BX  5133    .F77  G6  1883 
Fremantle,  W.   H.  1831-1916 
The  gospel  of  the  secular 
life 


THE 


Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


WITH  A 

FEE  FA  TOR  Y    ESS  A  V. 


BY 

The  Hon.  W.  H.  FREMANTLE, 

Late  Fellow  of  all  Souls  ; 
Rector  of  St.  Mary's,  Bryanston  Square,  and  Canon  of  Canterbury. 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 
1S83 


^0 


The  University  of  Oxford, 


AND    ESPECIALLY    TO    ITS    YOUNGER  MEMBERS 


IN  WHOM  LIES  SO  MUCH  OF  HOPE  FOR 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND, 


THIS  WORK   IS  DEDICATED. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Prefatory  Essay  «    7 

I.    Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith     ...    33 

II.    Religion  without  a  Temple    63 

III.  The  Supremacy  of  Christ  over  the  Secular 

Life   91 

IV.  Election  and  Privilege  in  Religion    121 

V.  Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry    ...  147 

VI.  The  Universal  Priesthood  of  Believers  ...  175 
VII.    God  Immanent  in  Man  and  Nature    197 

VIII.    Intellectual  Pursuits  and  the  Higher  Life  ...  215 

IX.    "Progress"                                 ^    229 


These  sermons  are  published  as  an  attempt  to  direct 
Christian  thought  into  a  new  channel,  its  great,  not  to 
say  paramount,  concern  with  the  general,  common,  or 
secular  life  of  mankind.  The  Christian  Church  is  a 
great  power,  and  nowhere  more  so  than  in  this 
country.  But  it  appears  hardly  conscious  of  its  true 
strength.  It  concerns  itself  with  public  worship,  with 
pulpit  instruction,  and  with  works  of  beneficence  of 
various  kinds,  and  with  the  extension  of  the  range  of 
these  forms  of  activity.  But  the  general,  common,  and ' 
secular  life  lies  almost  outside  its  purview.  Chlirch 
work  and  Church  influence  are  commonly  spoken  of 
as  if  they  were  something  lying  apart  from  the  life  of 
science,  or  art,  or  politics.  And  the  convictions  of 
men  on  these  subjects  are  apt  to  be  formed  almost 
without  reference  to  Christianity.  Those  who  lead 
in  these  departments  are  consequently  apt,  whether 
they  are  or  are  not  professedly  religious  men,  to 
hold  an  ambiguous  position  towards  the  Church. 
There  is  in  the  present  day,  among  men  of  culture 
in  England,  little  that  can  be  called  scoffing  at 
Christian  doctrine;  and  the  attitude  of  the  best  minds 
towards  the  Christian  system  generally,  if  it  is  often 
that  of  hesitancy,  is  rarely  that  of  denial.  But 


8  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

meanwhile  the  real  interests  of  men  are  apt  to  lie  in  a 
region  which  Christian  teaching  hardly  touches.  Nor 
is  the  phenomenon  which  we  are  observing  to  be 
explained  by  the  contrast  between  worldliness  and 
godliness.  It  is  rather  this — that  the  decisive  and 
directing  power  over  men's  consciences  is  not  felt  to 
lie  within  the  Church's  sphere,  so  that,  as  has  been 
recently  said,  the  great  secular  influences  form  new 
religions.  Christianity  becomes  a  specialism  and  a 
small  affair  in  the  presence  of  other  absorbing  objects 
of  interest,  instead  of  being  the  supreme  spiritual 
influence  which  elevates  and  harmonises  all  the 
spheres  of  human  life. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  disparage  the  ordinary  work 
of  the  Church.  We  may  rather  believe  that  that  work 
would  gain  in  width  and  in  vigour  from  the  direc- 
tion of  thought  which  is  here  proposed.  If  Chris- 
tianity were  felt  to  be  intimately  concerned  with  the 
general,  common,  and  secular  life,  its  worship  would 
be  much  more  real,  as  responding  to  the  wants  of  all. 
Its  schemes  of  beneficence  would  gain  in  vigour  and 
in  manliness,  because  they  would  be  part  of  the 
general  direction  of  human  life,  and  they  would  not 
shrink  from  contact  with  the  State.  And  the 
Church's  teaching  especially  would  take  a  wider 
range.  Even  the  teaching  which  bears  upon  ritual 
would  be  coloured  by  the  conviction  that  the  Christ 
with  whom  the  prayers  and  sacraments  unite  men  is 
the  spiritual  centre  of  the  life  of  mankind  and  of  the 
universe.    The  dogmas  would  pass  into  principles ; 


Prefatory  Essay. 


9 


they  would  be  found  to  be  expressions  for  the 
deepest  feelings  and  convictions  of  the  actual  life 
of  men,  and  their  significance  would  gain  a  new 
force  and  colour  from  each  fresh  discovery  of  truth  in 
whatever  department.  The  teaching  as  to  the  world 
to  come  also  would  be  more  closely  connected  with 
the  moral  life  here  ;  it  would  be  the  constant  back- 
ground of  the  picture,  a  sustaining  hope  develop- 
ing itself  in  a  happy  present  energy. 

Those  who  look  thoughtfully  into  the  future  may 
safely  leave  public  worship,  instruction,  and  bene- 
ficence to  the  action  of  existing  forces.  The  need  for 
them  is  felt  very  generally.  They  are,  for  the  most 
part,  under  the  charge  of  competent  men,  and  the 
mind  of  Christians  is  set  upon  them  ;  so  that  the 
further  extension  and  the  gradual  changes  which 
they  require,  the  pruning  away  of  excesses,  the 
introduction  of  lay  control,  may  be  regarded  as 
ensured.  There  is  hardly  an  object  of  this  kind 
for  which  some  special  society  does  not  exist.  But 
that  which  is  needed,  and  for  lack  of  which  Chris- 
tianity languishes,  is  a  wider  outlook,  a  determina- 
tion to  look  the  world  in  the  face  without  misgiving 
or  mistrust,  to  spiritualise  and  to  harmonise,  to  foster 
and  to  inspire,  the  various  spheres  and  interests 
which  the  Providence  of  God  opens  to  the  men 
of  our  day. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that,  for  lack 
of  intercourse  with  these  spheres  and  interests  of 
secular  life,  Christianity  is  in  danger  of  neglect  if  not 


lo  *        The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life, 

of  hostility  from  without,  and  of  shrivelling  up  into 
littleness  within.  There  is  another  phenomenon 
which  must  not  be  neglected — the  divisions  among 
Christians.  It  is  felt,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the 
divisions  have  no  sufficient  ground  of  conviction,  that 
they  are  in  fact  to  a  great  extent  an  anachronism, 
and  that  there  is  a  real  unity  independent  of  them, 
which  is  struggling  to  gain  expression.  Men  are 
a  little  ashamed  of  these  divisions,  and  of  the  fact 
that  Christianity  is  a  cause  of  disagreement  rather 
than  of  unity  in  the  world,  especially  in  the  political 
life.  But  on  the  other  hand  there  is  a  kind  of 
impotence  which  makes  them  fall  back  helplessly 
into  sectarianism,  at  least  into  that  modified  sec- 
tarianism which  is  content  with  outward  courtesy 
without  healing  the  division,  and  which  is  thus  liable 
to  the  reproach  of  want  of  principle.  Men  cannot 
frankly  discuss  their  differences  without  sliding  again 
into  the  grooves  of  the  old  and  effete  controversies. 
The  surest  way  to  get  rid  of  this  sectarianism  is  to 
find  new  ground  which  is  unaffected  by  it  So  long 
as  modes  of  worship,  and  the  government  of  the 
clergy,  and  the  little  interests  of  congregations,  or 
the  reduction  of  religious  ideas  to  abstract  and  dis- 
putable propositions,  are  looked  upon  as  the  main 
business  of  Christianity,  there  is  no  way  out  of  sec- 
tarianism. But  when  Christians  find  out  that  their 
main  business  is  to  promote  truth  in  all  departments 
of  human  knowledge,  and  love  in  all  the  relations 
of  human  life,  and  that  they  have  a  concern  also  in 


Prefatory  Essay, 


II 


all  that  beautifies  and  refines  human  existence,  and 
that  all  the  energy  of  their  faith  in  God  and  in 
Christ  is  needed  to  sustain  the  progress  of  mankind, 
they  will  find  out  also  that  the  ground  of  their  dis- 
cord recedes  into  its  natural  littleness,  and  that  the 
faith  by  which  they  all  are  actuated  is  a  great 
moral  power,  as  to  the  possession  and  use  of  which 
there  is  no  controversy. 

The  secular  life  of  modern  Europe  in  its  higher 
aspects  may  be  divided  into  three  great  departments  : 
that  of  Science — chiefly  though  not  exclusively  re- 
presented in  men's  present  thoughts  by  physical 
science — that  of  Art,  and  that  of  Politics.  It  exhibits 
also  certain  ruHng  ideas  or  tendencies,  of  which  the 
most  prominent  are  Free  Criticism,  Democratic 
Equality,  and  Progress.  Each  of  these  is  apt  to 
claim  entire  independence,  and  at  times  to  rise  in 
opposition  to  the  received  Christianity  and  the 
claims  of  the  Church  ;  and  a  conflict  is  thus  set  up, 
which  on  both  sides  would  be  described  somewhat  as 
follows.  Natural  science,  it  may  be  said,  especially  as 
inspired  by  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  seems  to  leave 
no  room  for  miracle,  no  room  even  for  a  creator,  in 
the  sense  usually  given  to  the  word — that  is,  one  who 
has  made  the  world  out  of  nothing,  and  sustains  it 
ab  extra;  and,  what  is  more,  the  pursuit  of  natural 
science  seems  so  absorbing  as  to  fill  up  the  whole 
soul,  and  to  leave  no  room  for  the  common  moral 
wants,  for  the  sense  of  sin,  and  the  need  of  redemp- 
tion.   The  votary  of  art,  again,  it  may  be  said,  claims 


12  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

to  be  free  and  separate.  He  resents  the  idea  that  he  is 
bound  by  moral  restrictions,  such  as  the  early  painters 
and  musicians  acknowledged.  This  is  specially  seen 
in  the  revived  love  of  the  Greek  form  of  culture,  and 
admiration  of  the  Renaissance.  The  life  of  art  stands 
in  contrast  with  the  moral  and  religious  life.  So 
also  the  political  development,  which  demands 
equality,  and  frets  against  authority,  has  its  own 
principles  of  action.  Religion  is  from  above,  it  is  said, 
dogmatic,  authoritative,  unchanging ;  but  modern 
political  life  goes  its  own  way,  each  man  and  each 
section  claiming  room  for  their  own  full  develop- 
ment, and  the  whole  passing  unfettered  "  down  the 
ringing  grooves  of  change."  Criticism,  again,  is 
erected  into  a  system  which  demands  recognition 
everywhere.  No  institution,  no  received  custom  or 
opinion,  can  be  withdrawn  from  its  unabashed  gaze. 
*'  I  know  nothing  as  holy,"  said  Strauss  ;  "  I  know 
only  the  true."  In  any  case,  the  demand  is  that  our 
statements  should  be  undogmatic  ;  but  is  not  theo- 
logy made  up  of.  dogmas  ?  If,  again,  the  assertion  of 
equality  is  to  have  its  full  issue,  does  not  this  directly 
contravene  the  privilege  allotted  hitherto  to  supe- 
riority or  goodness  in  its  various  forms }  And 
yet  has  not  the  government  of  God,  as  set  forth  in 
the  Bible,  been  conducted  on  the  principle  of  election 
and  of  graded  subjection?  Lastly,  if  progress  is  to 
go  on  incessantly,  what  goal  can  be  fixed  for  it } 
and  is  it  not,  as  far  as  religion  is  concerned,  a  pro- 
gress of  negation 


Prefatory  Essay. 


13 


This  short  statement,  which  the  reader  will  expand 
from  his  own  experience,  may  suffice  to  set  before  us 
the  main  tendencies  of  the  secular  life,  and  the  special 
difficulties  connected  with  it  in  our  day.  The  remarks 
now  to  be  made  upon  them  will  be  entirely  from  the 
standpoint  of  a  Christian  teacher. 

There  are  four  different  ways  of  dealing  with  the 
subject. 

First,  it  may  be  said  by  some  men  that  the  Church 
and  its  ministers,  and  earnest  Christians  generally, 
have  nothing  to  do  with  these  things.  "  Let  us  per- 
form our  duties,"  it  may  be  said,  "  and  let  the  world 
go  its  own  way.  If  we  are  to  exert  any  influence 
on  it,  it  must  be  by  the  spectacle  which  we  present 
of  earnest  devotion  to  our  own  proper  work  of 
prayer,  teaching,  and  beneficence.  These  will  in 
due  time  have  their  effect."  This  view  finds  some 
countenance  from  the  fact  that  many  of  those  who 
adopt  this  course  do  often,  by  their  simple  piety, 
win  a  large  and  beneficial  influence.  It  is  far  better 
to  have  no  view  at  all  about  science  or  art  or  poli- 
tics than  to  take  a  wrong  view.  And  those  who 
are  absorbed  in  secular  interests  will  often  feel  more 
sympathy,  because  they  are  more  left  in  peace,  in 
the  presence  of  men  of  simple  unquestioning  piety 
than  in  the  presence  of  those  who  are  earnestly 
working  out  the  problem  of  Christian  influence  in 
the  world.  But  there  are  great  dangers  in  such  a 
course.  First,  it  tends  to  make  religion  a  mere 
department  of  life,  instead  of  being  the  supreme 


14  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

moral  power.  Next,  when  men  are  ignorant  of  each 
other  they  usually  suspect  and  misunderstand  each 
other ;  and  so  it  is  apt  to  happen  with  systems  of 
life  which  thus  ignore  each  other.  Thirdly,  those 
who  try  to  ignore  the  secular  life,  however  simple 
they  may  be,  are  apt  to  become  a  prey  to  those 
who  do  not  ignore  it,  but  take  a  wrong  view  of  it ; 
and  thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  Church  system 
of  our  day,  though  full  of  earnestness  and  doing  much 
good  work,  is  drifting  more  and  more  into  clericalism. 
Lastly,  the  fatal  contrast  is  thus  reproduced,  which, 
except  where  it  is  taken  as  a  convenient  distinction 
and  as  expressing  a  division  of  labour,  is  wholly  un- 
christian, between  things  sacred  and  things  secular. 
The  only  contrast  known  to  Christianity  is  between 
good  and  evil.  Christ  came  not  to  condemn  the 
world,  but  to  save  it ;  and  "  the  world "  which  is 
condemned  by  Him  is  not  the  world  as  secular, 
but  the  world  as  wicked  and  selfish.  The  effort  of 
Christians  must  be  not  to  condemn  nor  to  ignore, 
but  to  save. 

Secondly,  there  are  those  who  admit  that  the 
secular  life  has  its  place  and  its  rights,  but  who  yet 
dread  it  as  a  disturbing  and  usurping  influence.  They 
would,  if  it  were  possible,  wish  back  the  time  when 
science  hardly  existed  and  art  was  the  servant  of 
devotion.  They  accept  the  Reformation,  and  even 
perhaps  the  English  Revolution  ;  but  the  reforming 
and  liberal  movements  of  the  present  day,  in  which 
the  spirit  of  the  Reformation  and  the  Revolution  lives 


Prefatory  Essay. 


15 


before  us  again,  they  fly  from  with  terror.  Criticism 
is  to  be  accepted  as  dealing  with  ecclesiastical,  but  not 
with  Biblical  questions.  Or,  again,  the  democratic 
spirit  is  admitted  in  politics,  but  must  on  no  account 
be  allowed  to  touch  the  organisation  of  the  Church. 
Newton's  discoveries,  though  resisted  as  contrary  to 
Scripture  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteeenth  century, 
are  almost  held  as  divine;  but  Darwin's  theories  in 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  are  dangerous.  This  is 
the  attitude  of  compromise.  It  has  no  principle  on 
which  it  is  based.  It  asserts  again  and  again  what  it 
has  afterwards  to  give  up.  It  yields  step  by  step 
what  it  had  professed  to  hold  as  the  most  important 
principles  or  institutions,  and,  like  a  bribe  paid  to 
an  invader,  it  invites  a  renewal  of  the  attack.  The 
fault  of  this  mode  of  raising  the  question  is  funda- 
m^^ntally  the  same  as  that  of  the  first,  namely,  that  it 
presumes  an  antagonism  which  is  fictitious  between 
the  Church  and  the  world,  the  secular  and  the  religious 
life,  and  confounds  the  world  as  secular  and  natural 
with  the  world  as  wicked  and  selfish.  But  it  has 
a  special  danger  of  its  own,  in  that  it  constantly 
raises  needless  controversy  and  ill-humour,  and  that 
it  presents  the  Church  and  Christianity  as  a  feeble 
and  feminine  being  dragged  hither  and  thither 
against  its  will,  rather  than  as  one  possessed  with 
the  dignity  of  truth  and  the  assurance  of  universal 
empire. 

Thirdly,  we  have  the  reconciliationists,  those  who 
look  upon  the  various  secular  systems  and  tendencies 


1 6  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

as  independent  powers,  possibly  as  new  forms  of 
religion,*  which  they  hope  may  one  day  be  shown 
not  to  be  antagonistic  to  Christianity.  There  is  on 
the  one  hand  the  expression  of  a  certain  alarm,  and  on 
the  other  the  hope,  more  or  less  confident  and  reasoned, 
that  the  alarm  may  prove  to  be  needless.  The 
danger  of  such  an  attitude  is  that  it  hardly  presents  a 
sufficient  basis  for  action.  It  hopes  for  such  a  basis 
rather  than  gives  it  us.  There  is  also  the  danger  that 
it  is  apt  to  take  the  two  supposed  antagonists  as  they 
are  at  a  given  time,  and  to  form  between  them  a  kind 
of  armistice  rather  than  a  durable  peace,  an  armistice 
which  may  fail  to  meet  the  next  demand  of  the  secular 
life.  Such  an  attitude  can  hardly  be  avoided  in  a 
period  of  transition.  But  it  does  not  present  the  resting- 
place  which  we  need  in  the  presence  of  the  changes  of 
opinion,  the  "  shaking  of  the  things  which  are  made," 
and  their  possible  removal.  Christian  teachers  can- 
not help  requiring  a  more  confident  position  from 
which  to  preach  to  mankind. 

That  more  confident  position,  we  may  venture  to 
believe,  is  accessible  to  us.  There  is  a  way  of  dealing 
with  the  problem  different  from  the  three  which  have 
been  described.    This  fourth  and  better  way  takes 

*  The  work  of  the  author  of  **  Ecce  Homo  "  on  Natural  Religion  has 
done  a  good  service  in  exhibiting  the  many  points  of  contact  between 
Christianity  as  commonly  held  (or  as  slightly  modified)  and  the  secular 
systems  which  he  so  vividly  describes.  But  the  conclusion  which 
seems  to  be  the  proper  result  of  his  work,  is  rather  aimed  at  and 
hoped  for  than  expressed,  and  the  work  has  therefore  appeared  to 
many  as  hesitating  and  disappointing. 


Prefatory  Essay. 


17 


as  its  starting-point  not  the  appearance  of  disunion, 
but  the  conviction  of  an  original  and  a  final  unity. 
The  supposed  antagonism  between  religion  and  the 
secular  life  is  not  one  which  those  who  believe  in 
God  ought  to  recognise.  It  is  a  form  of  dualism, 
with  this  difference — that  the  old  dualism  was  of 
good  and  evil,  this  of  two  forms  of  good.  But  good- 
ness is  all  one,  and  it  is  all  divine  and  Christian. 
Why  should  we  separate  from  each  other  the  various 
manifestations  of  the  same  spirit }  No  believer  in 
God  can  really  doubt  that  every  pure  and  unselfish 
development  of  human  energy  is  consonant  with  the 
will  and  purpose  of  God  ;  nor  that  humanity  and  the 
world  are  component  parts  of  one  great  Unity  ;  nor 
that  the  elevation  of  humanity  to  its  noblest  and  best 
estate  must  be  the  aim  of  every  man  who  lives  in 
earnest.  And  if  there  are  those  who  think  that  reli- 
gion is  the  enemy  of  science  or  art  or  the  political 
life,  f^-  of  the  free  exercise  of  criticism,  or  of  political 
equality,  or  of  progress,  we  must  endeavour  to  un- 
deceive them,  just  as  we  must  undeceive  religious 
men  who  imagine  that  any  of  these  tendencies  are 
in  themselves  anti-religious.  Whether  we  say  that 
God  made  the  world  as  a  watchmaker  makes  a  watch, 
or,  with  more  humility,  confine  ourselves  to  observing 
the  unity  of  the  world  and  of  humanit}',  and  the  de- 
velopment of  this  unity,  we  cannot  doubt  that  the 
supreme  power  which  we  call  God  is  Himself  at 
work  in  every  sphere  of  existence.  When  the  Posi- 
tivist  says  that  his  Trinity  is  Humanity,  the  World, 
B 


i8 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


and  Space,  he  announces  the  same  conviction  which 
is  expressed  in  the  words,  "  God  who  made  the  world 
and  all  that  is  therein,"  so  far,  at  least,  as  this  unity- 
is  concerned.  No  doubt  the  metaphysical  question 
may  be  raised  whether  this  implies  a  making  or 
ordering  of  the  world  ab  extra  or  ab  mti^a.  But 
such  a  question  does  not  necessarily  affect  Christian 
Theism.  What,  then,  does  this  unity  imply }  Cer- 
tainly the  unity  of  the  development  of  mankind  in 
all  its  relations  to  the  universe,  of  which  it  forms 
the  crown ;  the  unity,  therefore,  of  the  spheres  of 
science,  art,  political  life,  under  the  one  divine 
principle  or  power,  the  acknowledgment  of  which 
constitutes  theology  and  religion.  Using,  therefore, 
without  any  needless  assumption,  the  ordinary  Chris- 
tian language,  we  may  say  that  no  such  antagonism 
as  that  between  the  religious  and  secular  life  ought 
to  be  possible,  since  God  made  the  world,  and  com- 
bined its  component  parts  in  one. 

Has,  then,  the  appearance  of  Christ  created  this 
antagonism  }  The  Christian  belief,  on  the  contrary, 
is  expressed  in  the  words,  "  All  things  were  made  by 
Him  (the  Word  who  was  made  flesh  in  Christ),"  and 
"  In  Him  was  life,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men, 
.  .  .  the  true  light  that  lighteth  every  man."  How 
can  any  one  who  believes  this  consider  that  any  human 
excellence  is  strange  to  Christ,  or  that  there  is  any- 
thing exclusive  in  Him  who  is  One  with  God  t  We 
must  go  further,  and  assert  that  wherever  any  human 
excellence  is  to  be  found,  there  He  is  present  as  the 


Prefatory  Essay. 


19 


inspirer  of  it.  Wherever  such  excellence  is  pursued 
without  the  recognition  of  Him,  there  is  an  uncon- 
scious Christianity;  wherever  there  is  such  excellence 
together  with  this  recognition,  there  is  a  conscious 
Christianity.  But  even  where  the  spring  of  the  ex- 
cellence is  unrecognised,  or  through  ignorance  denied, 
there  should  be  on  the  part  of  Christians  a  hearty 
appreciation  of  the  excellence  itself  This  should 
be  an  elementary  article  of  belief,  that  all  human  ex- 
cellence is  essentially  divine,  and  essentially  Christian. 

It  follows  from  this  that  Christians  should  be  - 
interested  in  and  should  foster  all  that  is  excellent 
in  science  or  art  or  political  life  as  that  w^hich  is 
their  proper  business.  They  should  seek  first  to 
infuse  the  spirit  of  Christ  into  these  spheres  wherever 
they  have  been  perverted  to  selfishness  ;  and,  next, 
to  include  them  within  the  recognised  scope  of  the 
Christian  Church.  It  is  unfortunately  the  case  that 
the  name  of  the  Christian  Church  has  been  ap- 
propriated almost  exclusively  to  the  organisation 
for  worship,  instruction,  and  beneficence.  But  it  is 
impossible  that  this  narrowing  of  the  Divine  purpose 
should  be  permanent.  We  must  endeavour  to  include 
in  our  conception  of  the  Church  all  the  manifestations 
of  human  excellence,  and  treat  them  as  far  as  possible 
as  functions  of  the  Church.  Nor  must  we  expect  that 
they  will  in  every  respect  conform  themselves  to  the 
beliefs  and  practices  of  the  organisation  for  worship 
which  is  now  almost  exclusively  called  the  Church. 
They  have  their  own  sphere,  in  which  they  must  act 
B  2 


20  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

freely.  The  demand  that  they  should  so  conform 
themselves  could  only  be  rightly  made  if  the  Church 
organisation  responded  fully  to  the  true  ideal ;  but 
this  cannot  be  the  case  while  the  great  spheres  of  the 
secular  life  are  regarded  as  outside  the  Church  organi- 
sation, and  the  leaders  of  them  are  not  looked  upon 
as  ministers  of  Christ.  The  confusion  which  is  thus 
created  prevents  the  Church  from  using  its  full  and 
Divine  authority.  It  speaks  with  a  hesitating  and 
lisping  utterance. 

In  the  light  of  these  remarks  let  us  glance  at  the 
chief  spheres  and  tendencies  of  the  secular  life. 

I.  Let  us  take  the  sphere  of  Science — that  is,  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  physical  world  which  is  chiefly  in 
men's  minds  when  they  speak  of  science.  Must  we 
not  admit  that  the  discoveries  which  have  been  made 
in  it  have  been  to  us  real  revelations  or  unveilings  of 
God,  and  that  their  spiritual  results  have  been  of  very 
great  value  }  The  immutability  of  His  will  is  shown 
in  the  reign  of  law,  so  that  a  lawless  scepticism  is  ren- 
dered all  but  impossible.  The  true  position  of  man  is 
also  made  clear,  so  that  a  check  is  placed  upon  wil- 
fulness and  presumption.  An  end  is  put  to  mere 
speculation,  and  to  systems  like  those  of  the  school- 
men and  some  of  the  Encyclopaedists  of  the  last 
century,  through  the  awe  which  is  felt  in  the  presence 
of  the  inevitable,  the  immense,  and  the  irresistible. 
If  some  men  of  science  are  also  rigid  determinists  (a 
result  by  no  means  necessary),  they  cannot  be  more 
so  than  Jonathan  Edwards  and  Dr.  Chalmers ;  and 


Prefatory  Essay. 


21 


if  the  tendency  of  the  disclosure  of  the  greatness  of 
the  physical  world  is  to  crush  man,  yet  on  the  other 
hand  a  reaction  and  fresh  uplifting  comes  to  us  from 
the  spectacle  which  it  presents  of  an  eternal  progress, 
from  looking  back  on  the  long  elaboration  by  which 
the  dwelling  of  man  has  been  prepared,  and  con- 
templating his  history  as  one  of  constant  rising  from 
lower  to  higher  stages. 

There  are  indeed  two  difficulties  which  are  apt  to 
result  from  scientific  studies,  and  which  cause  good 
men  distress  and  perplexity  ;  but  a  solution  of  these 
seems  near  at  hand.  The  revelations  of  science  make 
us  shrink  from  such  breaches  of  the  ordinary  course  of 
nature  as  seem  to  be  involved  in  some  of  the  Biblical 
histories,  and  to  be  intertwined  with  the  historical 
sources  of  our  faith.  It  would  be  impossible  here  to 
discuss  ll.e  question  thus  opened.  But  a  review  of 
the  long  controversies  which  have  taken  place  during 
the  last  200  years  on  the  subject,  seems  to  lead  us  to 
these  conclusions  :  first,  that  the  main  basis  of  Chris- 
tian faith  is  not  affected  by  it,  since  Christians  have 
learnt  to  rest  much  more  on  the  spiritual  nature  and 
power  of  Christ  than  on  any  special  facts,  even  than 
on  the  testimony  of  His  Resurrection  ;  and  there  are 
instances  of  men  who  hold  earnestly  to  the  name 
and  spirit  of  Christ  who  yet  do  not  admit  any 
miraculous  agency;^  and,  secondly,  that  the  Re- 
surrection itself  is  to  be  viewed  rather  as  a  dis- 


*  See  Dr.  Abbott's  "Through  Nature  to  Christ." 


22 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


closure  of  another  state  of  existence"^  than  as  be- 
longing to  the  order  of  events  with  which  physical 
science  is  conversant.  There  seems  to  be  no  reason 
why  our  belief  in  an  unchangeable  order  and  our 
hopes  of  immortality  should  disagree  with  one 
another.  The  other  danger  connected  with  the  life 
of  science  is  that  it  is  so  absorbing  that  the  moral 
world  seems  to  disappear  from  the  view.  It  has 
even  been  said  that  the  centre  of  interest  is  being 
shifted  from  men  to  things.  But  we  must  view  this 
merely  as  a  transitory  phase.  Men  and  women  will 
always  be  much  rnore  important  than  things,  and 
historical  and  moral  studies  will  retain  their  pre- 
eminence, even  if  they  should  suffer  a  temporary 
eclipse.  But,  if  the  votaries  of  natural  science  are 
almost  exclusively  absorbed  in  their  own  pursuit,  we 
should  look  upon  this  as  the  exercise  of  their  special 
Christian  gift,  the  special  mode  in  which  they  serve 
God  and  men.  It  is  hardly  possible  but  that  those 
who  have  a  special  function,  and  are  fulfilling  it  with 
all  their  heart,  should  at  times  exaggerate  its  im- 
portance. .  But  we  cannot  fail  to  observe  that  there  is  a 
seriousness,  a  purity,  and  a  disinterestedness  about  the 
pursuits  of  natural  science  which  give  it  a  very  high 
moral  value.  If  to  Aristotle  it  seemed  the  most  divine 
of  pursuits,  it  is  quite  possible  that  it  may  be  a  neces- 
sary antidote  to  the  exclusive  absorption  in  things  moral 
to  which  Christian  seriousness  has  been  apt  to  lean. 

*  Compare  Bishop  Horsley's  "Four  Sermons  on  the  Resurrection," 
and  Canon  Westcott's  "Gospel  of  the  Resurrection." 

\ 


Prefatory  Essay. 


23 


2.  We  have  to  consider  the  Hfe  of  Art,  the  pursuit 
of  beauty  and  refinement,  to  which  we  may  add  the 
Hghter  pursuits — recreation  and  amusement.  These 
must  also  be  viewed  as  a  mode  in  which  one  side  of 
the  Divine  is  made  known  to  us,  and  by  which 
God  is  revealed  and  draws  men  to  himself.  It  is 
sometimes  said  that  art  has  nothing  to  do  with 
religion.  But  it  is  in  itself  a  part  of  religion.  With- 
out insisting  on  the  fact  that  it  often  ministers  power- 
fully to  the  moral  and  religious  sentiments,  or  that 
the  highest  poetry  and  painting  and  sculpture  and 
music  is  commonly  the  reflection  of  the  best  feelings 
of  Christians  and  of  citizens,  we  may  reflect  that  art 
merely  taken  as  a  constituent  of  happiness  is  a  reve- 
lation of  one  side  of  human  and  divine  excellence. 
From  the  beginning  it  has  been  said  that  rest  is 
a  part  of  God's  nature ;  and  rest  is  precisely  what 
art  can  give  us.  A  life  in  which  all  art,  all  sense  of 
beauty,  all  recreation,  were  suppressed,  would  be 
distinctly  a  lower  life.  And  if  there  are  times  in 
which  art  has  pre-eminently  flourished,  leaving  a 
legacy  of  joy  to  future  generations,  so  there  are 
men  who  fulfil  the  same  position  for  their  contempo- 
raries. We  must  not,  indeed,  yield  to  the  false  sug- 
gestion that  such  men  are  freed  from  moral  restraints, 
or  are  not  responsible  for  the  use  of  their  art.  They 
are  men,  and  man  is,  throughout  the  whole  range 'of 
his  energy,  an  accountable  being.  But  we  must  not 
impose  upon  such  men  the  terms  which  may  justly 
apply  to  moralists  and  religious  teachers. 


24  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

3.  But  a  few  words  need  be  said  here  in  reference 
to  the  place  of  politics  in  our  religious  system.  No 
one  who  reads  St.  Paul  can  doubt  that  the  Christian 
doctrine  is  that  God  has  established  the  government 
of  nations,  and  that  those  who  govern  them  are  his 
ministers.  In  the  wide  sense  which  we  have  endea- 
voured to  give  to  the  Church,  we  need  not  scruple 
to  speak  of  the  nation  as  a  branch  of  the  Church. 
When  we  consider  the  vast  interest  which  we  have 
in  the  nation,  and  its  vast  power  over  us,  when  we 
reflect  on  the  sacred  duties  of  patriotism,  and  the 
other  virtues  which  circle  round  it,  we  cannot  but 
feel  that  there  is  nothing  on  earth  nearer  to  God 
than  the  nation  with  which  he  has  bound  up 
our  lives.  If  politics  mean  to  us  a  care  for  the 
interests  of  the  great  brotherhood  to  which  we 
belong,  that  is  hardly  distinguishable  from  the  care 
for  the  kingdom  of  God  :  we  can  hardly  be  too  much 
absorbed  in  it.  The  fault  of  Christian  ministers  is 
not  that  they  care  too  much  but  too  little  for  politics. 
We  may  rightly  think  of  a  statesman  who  directs 
uprightly  the  policy  of  England,  involving  as  it  does 
the  welfare  of  all  classes,  the  raising  of  the  poor  of 
the  people,  education,  sanitation,  temperance,  thrift, 
justice,  the  maintenance  of  true  relations  between 
men  and  classes  at  home,  a  great  and  special  power 
in  ■  European  affairs,  and  the  direct  influence  of 
Christian  civilisation  on  barbarism,  as  in  the  fullest 
sense  a  minister  of  Christ  and  of  God.  And  the 
sanctity  which  attaches  to  the  supreme  office  ex- 


Prefatory  Essay. 


25 


tends  in  its  measure  to  all  subordinates  in  the  poli- 
tical hierarchy,  and  to  those  who,  directly  or  in- 
directly, contribute  to  their  nomination.  If  the 
sacred  church-functions  of  political  life  have  at  times 
been  abused  (as  every  church-function  is  apt  to  be) 
and  have  served  the  purposes  of  ambition  and  parti- 
sanship, the  fault  lies  not  alone  with  the  individuals 
who  are  guilty  of  such  perversion,  but  also  with  the 
false  system  which  narrows  the  idea  of  the  Church, 
and  leaves  outside  its  pale  the  duties  of  public  life, 
which  are  the  largest  and  among  the  noblest  of  its 
functions. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  touch  at  any  great  length  on 
the  tendencies  of  the  secular  Hfe  in  modern  times 
which  have  been  added  to  the  enumeration  of  its 
three  principal  spheres — the  tendencies  of  free  criti- 
cism, democratic  equality,  and  progress.  But  a  few 
words  may  be  said  upon  each.  Criticism  is  merely 
the  attempt  to  judge  rightly.  As  such  it  is  the  result 
of  the  spirit  of  truth  working  in  us.  That  it  may, 
like  other  good  things,  be  abused,  being  employed  as 
the  instrument  of  discontent  or  malevolence,  or  that 
it  may  degenerate  into  the  mere  habit  of  asking 
questions  when  we  ought  to  be  at  work  by  the  light 
of  the  truth  which  we  possess,  does  not  prevent  our 
considering  it  as  a  necessary  manifestation  of  the 
Christian  spirit.  We  see  its  beneficial  results  on  all 
sides,  and  positive  truth  stands  out  all  the  clearer  for 
its  operation.  As  to  Democratic  Equality,  it  is  nothing 
else  than  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  demanding  that 


26 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


those  members  of  the  community  who  have  most  to 
complain  of  should  be  in  a  position  to  get  their 
grievances  redressed.  It  does  not  imply  that  all  have 
the  same  office,  or  that  there  is  no  difference  between 
men  in  point  of  wealth,  or  social  position,  or  culture, 
though  it  will  constantly  tend  to  reduce  instead  of 
increasing  those  inequalities.  It  is  the  expression 
under  modern  conditions  of  that  demand  for  the  care 
of  the  weak  and  helpless  which  in  the  politics  of  the 
Psalms  and  the  Prophets  of  Israel  was  constantly 
pressed  upon  all  who  were  in  power.  We  need  not 
hesitate  to  look  upon  the  general  movement  which 
is  often  called  the  Revolution,  and  which  has  resulted 
in  the  substitution  of  constitutional  government  for 
autocracy  almost  all  through  Europe  in  the  last  thirty 
years  as  a  great  work  of  the  Christian  spirit.  Lastly, 
the  idea  of  progress  is  one  which  must  be  dear  to  every 
Christian,  who  believes  that  the  present  state  of  things 
is  corrupt  and  full  of  selfishness,  and  who  has  learnt  to 
pray,  "  Thy  kingdom  come."  It  is  true  that  mere 
movement  is  not  always  progress ;  but  one  who 
believes  in  the  redemption  of  the  world  has  an  un- 
quenchable hope  that  it  is  being  led  on  towards  a 
goal  grander  than  his  best  conceptions,  but  the  out- 
lines of  which  stand  out  clearly  before  him  ;  and  the 
changes  of  recent  times,  if  looked  at  in  the  spirit 
which  has  been  suggested  here,  will  seem  to  him  in 
the  main  calculated  to  stimulate  this  hope. 

But  this  view,  it  may  be  said,  can  only  be  accepted 
at  the  expense  of  large  modifications  in  dwx  theology. 


Prefatory  Essay. 


27 


The  dogmas  of  the  Church  seem  one  by  one  to  be 
challenged  by  these  secular  forces.  Are  we  to  yield 
to  these  ?  And  where  will  the  process  of  concession 
stop  ?  It  is  quite  true  that  theology  must  undergo  some 
modifications  ;  or,  rather,  it  has  undergone  consider- 
able modifications  in  our  own  time.  Such  questions 
as  that  of  future  punishment,  the  inspiration  of 
Scripture,  the  Atonement,  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
the  state  of  the  heathen,  are  almost  universally  treated 
in  a  different  way  from  that  in  which  they  were 
treated  even  thirty  years  ago.  The  spirit  in  which 
they  are  dealt  with  is  larger  and  more  hopeful.  And 
generally  there  is  an  unwillingness  to  use  sharp 
dogmatic  language,  especially  when  it  would  imply 
a  condemnation  of  some  of  the  great  secular  ten- 
dencies which  have  here  been  dealt  with.  So  far  as 
this  result  is  due  to  a  recognition  of  these  tendencies, 
we  need  not  think  it  any  derogation  from  Christianity 
or  the  Church  to  avow  it,  since  these  tendencies,  as 
we  have  endeavoured  to  show,  are  themselves  Christian 
tendencies ;  and  we  modify  our  convictions  in  obedience, 
not  to  ■d.fojxe  majeure  from  without,  but  to  the  facts  of 
Divine  Providence  and  to  the  Christian  spirit  working 
in  them.  Nor  need  we  fear  the  continuance  of  this 
process  ;  in  many  respects  its  result  will  be  to  give 
more  force  to  Christian  doctrine.  If  the  progress  of 
scientific  discovery  makes  us  think  of  God  less 
as  a  transcendent  external  power  than  as  one  im- 
manent in  the  world,  this  is  but  giving  a  larger 
extension  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit.    If  art  and 


28  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

culture  necessarily  chasten  the  sharpness  and  the 
harshness  of  dogmatic  teaching,  and  introduce  us 
to  a  region  where  the  direct  interests  of  morality 
are  not  so  obvious  and  exclusive,  they  will  make 
the  great  objects  of  Christian  thought  loom  out 
larger  and  more  impressive,  and  the  beauty  of  God 
and  of  holiness  will  take  a  wider  expansion  in  our 
views.  If  political  progress  and  the  tendency  to 
democratic  equality  demand  the  abolition  of  many 
restrictions,  and  the  admission  of  lay  or  secular 
influences  in  departments  of  the  Church  hitherto 
controlled  by  the  clergy,  this  is  to  be  viewed  as  the 
drawing  forth  of  new  energy,  an  extension  of  the  gifts 
of  the  Spirit.  We  need  only  demand  that  the  process 
we  are  tracing  should  be  conducted  truthfully,  and 
without  rashness.  Its  result,  we  may  be  sure,  will  be 
not  to  limit  or  darken  Christian  teaching,  but  to  give 
it  the  fuller  expansion  which,  apart  from  the  secular 
influences,  it  could  never  receive. 

When  Richard  Rothe  said  that  Christianity  was 
the  most  mutable  of  all  things,  and  that  this  was  its 
special  glory ,^  he  did  not  imply  any  doubt  of  its 
essential  principles,  or  any  indifference  to  its  form; 
he  merely  stated  vividly  its  power  of  adaptation  to 
changing  circumstances,  and  its  capacity  for  profiting 
by  new  discoveries  of  truth.  Such  a  re-adaptation 
appears  to  be  in  progress  now,  and  the  object  of  the 
present  publication  is  to  help  in  effecting  it.  The 

*  Rothe's  "  Stille  Stunden,"  p.  357>  quo<ed  in  Hibbert  Lectures 
for  1882,  p.  294. 


Prefatory  Essay. 


29 


possible  results  of  this  re-adaptation  are  such  as 
should  fill  every  Christian  with  enthusiastic  hope,  the 
hope  of  restoring  unity  where  now  there  is  division 
or  mistrust,  of  extending  the  dominion  of  the  Spirit 
of  Christ,  of  combining  elements  which  now  neutralise 
each  other  in  the  task  of  elevating  the  whole  life  of 
mankind  ;  for  in  that  direction  lies  the  Kingdom  of 
God. 

The  scope  of  the  sermons  will  be  seen  from  the 
following  epitome : — 

1.  Christian  faith  is  not  an  adherence  to  a  series 
of  propositions,  but  a  living  sympathy  and  aspiration, 
which  shows  itself  in  many  forms,  and  is  the  spring  of 
a  true  and  healthful  life. 

2.  The  Church  is  not  chiefly  a  system  of  public 
worship  designed  to  direct  men's  minds  to  another 
world,  but  a  social  state  in  which  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
reigns ;  and  this  state  appears  in  many  ways  both 
within  and  without  the  recognised  field  of  the 
Church's  energy. 

3.  The  Spirit  of  Christ  is  supreme  over  the  whole 
range  of  the  secular  life,  education,  trade,  literature 
art,  science,  and  politics,  and  is  seen  to  be  practically 
vindicating  this  supremacy. 

4.  The  peculiar  privilege  which  the  Church  claims 
for  itself  and  its  members  is  not  that  of  exclusive 
rights,  but  of  leadership  in  a  work  to  which  all  are 


3©  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

called  ;  and,  as  such,  it  is  in  accordance  with  the 
natural  order,  and  with  a  true  universalism. 

5.  Criticism  is  not  a  foe,  but  a  friend,  to  Christian 
teaching  and  piety. 

6.  Each  individual  who  has  the  Spirit  of  Christ  is 
to  be  recognised  in  his  own  sphere  as  exercising  a 
function  or  ministry  of  the  Church,  according  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  universal  priesthood  of  believers. 

7.  The  theological  doctrine  on  which  this  depends 
is  the  immanence  of  God — "  God  is  a  Spirit." 

8.  Intellectual  pursuits  are  harmonised  by  Chris- 
tianity, considered  as  a  life. 

9.  The  doctrine  of  progress,  so  fully  recognised  in 
the  spheres  of  industry  and  science,  is  also  applicable 
to  theology,  which  must  open  itself  out  to  new  in- 
fluences, and  appropriate  them. 


L 


1 


L 

{Preached  before  the  U7iiversity  of  Oxford^  November  24,  1878.) 


"  He  is  our  peace,  who  hath,  made  both  one  and  hath  broken  down 
the  wall  of  partition  between  us,  hav-ing  abolished  in  His  flesh  the 
enmity,  even  the  law  of  commandments  contained  in  ordinances,  for 
to  make  in  Himself  of  twain  one  new  man,  so  making  peace." — 
Ephesians  ii.  14,  15. 


The  fact  which  St.  Paul  describes  in  these  striking 
words  was  to  him  the  centre  and  marrow  of  Christi- 
anity. Christ  is  the  great  reconciler.  In  Him  God 
and  man  meet  together.  In  Him  all  the  creation 
is  to  be  gathered  into  one.  In  Him  all  parts  of 
the  human  family,  which  before  were  separated,  flow 
together  and  are  at  peace. 

The  subsequent  career  of  Christianity  cannot  be 
said  to  be  altogether  of  a  piece  with  this  experience 
and  these  hopes  of  the  Apostle.  It  must  appear  to 
every  observ'er  that  Christianity  has  very  frequently 
been,  by  its  internal  discord,  and  by  its  harsh  bear- 
ing towards  mankind,  the  promoter  of  strife,  not  of 
peace.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  to  every  believer  that 
there  is  some  foreign  element  which  has  been  joined 
with  it,  and  which  thus  mars  in  its  later  career  the 
purpose  so  largely  fulfilled  in  its  first  beginnings, 
c 


34  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

We  must  seek  to  eliminate  the  foreign  element 
by  drawing  out  and  expanding  the  central  truth, 
and  by  promoting  in  men  that  attitude  towards 
Christ  and  one  another  which  originally  made  faith 
a  humanising  principle. 

Let  us  first  notice  how  vast  a  range  of  thought 
is  included  in  St.  Paul's  assertion  that  all  are  made 
one  in  Christ.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that 
this  was  to  St.  Paul  the  Gospel  itself,  the  good  news 
of  God's  universal  love.  His  first  knowledge  of 
Christianity  as  a  working  power  had  probably  been 
gained  from  the  preaching  of  Stephen,  which  plainly 
intimated  that  religion  was  not  bound  up  with  the 
local  pecuharities  of  Judaism.  And  what  he  knew  of 
Christ  himself  must  have  been  in  conformity  with 
this.  The  extraordinary  feature  to  the  Jewish  mind 
in  our  Lord's  life  and  teaching  was  its  universality. 
There  is  nothing  in  it  which  is  merely  Judaic.  It  is 
not  exclusively  of  any  nation  or  tongue,  but  belongs 
alike  to  all.  This  was  what  sharpened  the  enmity  of 
the  Jewish  rulers  against  Him,  and  was  the  real  cause 
of  His  death.  The  Pharisaism  which  had  become 
the  religion  of  the  Jews  was  exclusive ;  and  the  atti- 
tude of  Christ  towards  the  Publicans  and  other  out- 
cast classes,  who  symbolised  to  the  orthodox  Jews 
the  whole  outside  world,  jarred  upon  the  pride  of  the 
dominant  belief  Men  felt  that,  if  this  doctrine  suc- 
ceeded, their  superiority  was  gone ;  and  therefore 
they  revolted  from  it. 

The  young  man  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  Gama- 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith.  ,  35 


liel  had  shared  to  the  fullest  extent  this  Judaic 
exclusiveness ;  and,  when  Stephen  accentuated  the 
universality  of  Christianity,  Saul  became  a  persecutor. 
But  this  very  characteristic  which  made  him  hate 
and  destroy  the  Christian  faith  became  eventually  the 
thing  most  precious  to  him.  It  haunted  him,  we 
cannot  doubt,  in  his  journey  to  Damascus  ;  and  it 
was  the  point  on  which  his  conversion  turned.  The 
Jesus  who  appeared  to  him  in  the  way  was  the 
universal  Saviour ;  and  the  apostolate  which  he 
received  was  that  of  the  Gentiles.  This  universality 
was  the  point  for  which  he  contended  at  the  Council 
at  Jerusalem  and  in  his  opposition  to  Peter  at  An- 
tioch.  This  was  the  special  object  of  the  attacks  of 
the  Judaizers  upon  him.  The  recognition  of  this 
universality  was  the  object  which  he  sought  in  going 
to  Jerusalem  with  the  offerings  of  the  Gentiles.  This 
excited  the  hatred  of  the  Jews  against  him,  and  this 
was  the  cause  of  his  imprisonment  and  his  death. 

It  was  not  a  doctrine  merely  but  a  fact.  The 
Jews  turned  away  from  the  universality  of  the  Gospel 
but  the  Gentiles  and  the  remnant  embraced  it ;  and  it 
became  the  standing  marvel  which  the  infant  churches 
presented  to  mankind.  St.  Paul  is  never  weary  of 
repeating  how  Jew  and  Gentile,  barbarian  and  Greek, 
slave  and  freeman,  had  all  felt  a  new  power  of  co- 
hesion and  became  as  brothers,  members  of  one  family, 
enjoying  equal  rights,  greeting  one  another  with  the 
kiss  of  charity.  This  was  the  real  power,  the  power 
of  social  affection,  the  new-born  enthusiasm  of  hu- 
C  2 


36  Ihe  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

manity  of  which  Christ  was  the  source.  And  it  was 
felt  like  the  attraction  which  draws  lovers  together. 
The  great  deeps  of  human  nature  were  broken  up  ; 
the  power  of  love  overflowed  its  ancient  boundaries ; 
and  men  in  whom  difference  of  race  and  of  custom 
had  begotten  an  alienation  which  seemed  like  a  law  of 
nature,  fell  into  each  other's  arms  and  were  at  peace. 
They  knelt  at  the  same  devotions,  the  Sacrament  was 
their  common  meal ;  that  which  divided  them  had 
disappeared,  and  a  new  life,  unfettered  by  the  pecu- 
liarities which  had  before  bred  enmity,  was  forming 
itself  in  their  young  societies. 

This  view  of  religious  truth  is  developed  to  some 
extent  in  the  earlier  epistle  of  St.  Paul.  It  is  essential 
to  the  right  understanding  of  the  epistles  to  the 
Romans  and  Galatians,  in  which  the  characteristic  so 
dear  to  St.  Paul  is  expressed  by  the  central  term 
Faith,  while  the  Judaic  pride  which  caused  division 
lurks  in  "the  Law;"  and  in  which  the  Apostle  con- 
stantly breaks  out  into  expressions  like  these :  "  Is  he 
the  God  of  the  Jews  only  }  Is  he  not  of  the  Gentiles 
also  Seeing  it  is  one  God  who  shall  justify,  the 
circumcision  by  faith  and  the  uncircumcision  through 
faith."  But  it  is  in  the  later  epistles  that  it  assumes 
its  most  marked  pre-eminence.  St.  Paul  speaks  of  it 
as  an  experience,  an  acquisition.  The  Churches  have 
realised  it :  the  Apostle's  great  conviction  has  been 
lived  out  and  has  taken  shape  in  actual  society.  It  is 
now  the  mystery  which  he  had  been  specially  called  to 
preach,  but  which  had  lain  hid  for  ages  and  genera- 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith. 


37 


tions  till  it  was  manifested  in  Christ.  This  enables 
St.  Paul  to  look  out  over  the  field  of  the  opening 
Christian  history,  and  to  announce  that  God's  purpose 
is  to  gather  all  things  into  one  in  Christ.  The  har- 
mony which  he  feels  within  him,  and  which  he  sees 
reigning  among  his  converts,  is  projected  upon  the 
development  of  the  world  itself ;  and  the  reconciling 
power  of  Christ  brings  all  men  and  all  things  into 
one. 

When  we  compare  this  magnificent  prospect  with 
the  result  of  eighteen  centuries,  we  thankfully  acknow- 
ledge that,  in  part  at  least,  it  has  been  fulfilled.  The 
sense  of  harmony  in  the  creation  generally,  and  be- 
tween its  higher  and  low^er  parts,  has  increased  to  a 
conviction  of  unity  which  is  the  basis  of  all  inquiry, 
of  all  science,  of  all  practical  progress.  The  sense 
of  brotherhood  in  the  human  race  has  asserted  itself 
Slavery  is  all  but  done  away  with,  wars  are  conducted 
with  an  underlying  sense  of  unity  :  the  civilised  na- 
tions are  bound  together  by  a  community  of  arts,  of 
knowledge,  of  literature,  by  certain  acknowledged 
principles  of  justice,  by  some  similarity  of  institu- 
tions, by  some  consensus,  however  feeble,  of  religious 
faith.  But  how  slowly  have  these  come  about.  How 
imperfect  are  they  at  the  best.  And  how  many  an- 
tagonisms remain  unsubdued,  and  even  seem  at  times 
to  grow  fiercer  and  more  irreconcilable.  And  how 
often  has  the  progress,  such  as  it  has  been,  towards 
unity,  been  won,  not  by  the  proclamation  of  Christian 
truth  through  its  recognised  channels,  but  in  oppo- 


38  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

sition  to  them  and  by  other  means ;  so  that  many 
begin  to  doubt  whether  Christianity  has  not  lost  its 
virtue,  and,  in  the  struggle  which  is  stirred  up  by  a 
Church  which  has  parted  with  its  healing  power,  are 
tempted  to  side  with  its  professed  antagonists. 

We  cannot  deny  that  Christianity  often  appears 
as  a  fosterer  not  of  unity  but  of  division  ;  and  the 
excuse  for  this  which  is  sometimes  sought  in  the 
words  of  our  Lord  which  speak  of  his  sending  not 
peace  but  the  sword  is  quite  inapplicable.  For 
Christ's  enmity  was  against  evil  alone  :  but  we  have 
connected  with  evil,  things  which  are  really  indif- 
ferent ;  and  we  war  against  these  as  if  they  were 
evil  in  themselves.  We  do  what  was  done  by  the 
heathen,  or  by  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  their  deca- 
dence, we  erect  our  own  peculiarities  into  good  and 
debase  those  of  others  into  evil ;  and  thus  we  fill 
the  world  with  our  enmities,  and  connect  them  with 
Christ,  whose  name  we  thus  take  in  vain  and  whose 
cause  we  expose  to  contempt.  The  work  of  the 
Christian  teacher  is  to  isolate  from  this  false  conflict 
the  good  and  the  evil,  so  that  men  may  see  where 
the  issue  really  lies,  and  may  take  their  side  undoubt- 
ingly.  Our  way  through  life  is  thickly  beset  with 
contradictions  which  owe  their  origin  to  miscon- 
ceptions of  Christianity.  There  is  the  conflict  of 
Papist  and  Protestant,  that  of  Churchman  and  Dis- 
senter in  England,  that  of  various  parties  within  our 
own  religious  organisation,  that  of  clerical  and  lay 
interests  in  matters  of  education,  of  marriage,  of 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith.    <  39 


charities,  of  the  provision  for  rehgious  worship : 
there  is  the  conflict,  to  use  the  popular  language, 
between  science  and  revelation,  and  again,  between 
religion  and  culture  :  and,  beyond  all  these,  perhaps 
the  greatest  antagonism  of  all,  that  between  spiritu- 
ality and  common  life.  Can  it  be  pretended  that  any 
of  these  is  in  itself  the  battle  of  faith,  the  conflict 
which  Christ  predicted  ?  Can  we  say  that  the  cause 
which  we  ourselves  espouse  in  any  of  these  conflicts 
is  absolutely  good  and  its  opposite  absolutely  evil  ? 
Can  it  be  maintained  that  those  who  are  supposed 
to  represent  the  right  and  the  Christian  side  are  so 
managing  the  conflict  as  to  war  against  evil  alone  ? 
Or  is  it  not  rather  true  that  Christian  things  are  often 
aimed  at  in  an  unchristian  way,  and  Christian  opinion 
upheld  by  unchristian  methods  ;  and  that  he  who  tries 
to  judge  truth  fully  must  often  stand  in  doubt  on 
which  side  the  truth  really  lies,  nay,  sometimes  per- 
ceive that  truth  has  passed  over  from  the  so-called 
Christian  camp  to  that  of  its  opponents  ;  and  that, 
while  men  on  one  side  are  saying.  Lord,  Lord,  it  is 
on  the  other  that  the  things  are  done  which  Christ 
said. 

And  the  consequence  of  this  habit  of  making  anta- 
gonisms instead  of  removing  them  is  that  those  who 
stand  in  doubt  have  their  doubts  confirmed,  or  turn 
away  from  the  whole  scene  in  which  such  antagonisms 
arise.  It  has  become  quite  natural  for  men  to  hear  it 
said  that  a  thing  is  Christian  and  yet  tolerant,  or 
peaceful,  or  liberal ;  or  even  to  hear  that  a  thing  is 


40  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


Christian  and  therefore  intolerant,  iUiberal,  and  the 
cause  of  constant  strife.  And  so  some  who  might  be 
attracted  by  a  reHgion  of  love  are  tempted  "  to  shun 
the  dreary,  uncouth  place,"  and  to  seek  their  rest  else- 
where. I  suppose  we  have  all  known  men  who,  from  the 
Babel  of  mutual  condemnations  with  which  the  Church 
is  filled,  have  quietly,  and  not  quite  unreasonably,  re- 
solved to  think  no  more  upon  religious  subjects.  And 
that  which  is  done  deliberately  by  a  few  is  done  un- 
consciously by  a  vast  multitude.  Love  is  attractive, 
but  strife  is  repulsive  to  mankind.  And  those  who 
thus  turn  away  to  find  spiritual  rest  elsewhere  are  not 
wholly  doing  wrong  nor  are  they  always  disappointed. 
The  spirit  which  amidst  the  waves  of  controversy 
finds  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  its  foot,  flies  naturally  to 
harbour  on  some  shore  which,  however  rugged,  is  at 
least  free  from  discord. 

We  have  to  set  forth  Christianity  once  more  as 
the  great  reconciling  power.  We  cannot  allow  it  to 
be  identified  with  dissension.  It  must  not  be  dis- 
honoured in  the  present  generation  of  its  ministers 
by  proving  in  their  hands  inadequate  to  the  task  of 
bringing  all  the  varieties  of  human  life  and  of  human 
nature  into  harmony.  Whatever  diversities  are  oc- 
casioned by  genuine  conviction  are  to  be  treated  as 
St.  Paul  treated  the  various  gifts  of  the  Church  in  his 
day.  There  are  diversities  of  gifts  but  the  same 
Spirit.  There  are  differences  of  character,  of  opinion, 
of  organisation,  different  points  of  view,  different 
modes  of  life,  differences  of  education  ^nd  of  reading  ; 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith.  '  41 

but  there  is  one  divine  power  which  works  through 
them  all  unless  they  be  selfish  or  insincere,  and  draws 
them  all  into  harmony.  To  trace  out  that  power,  to 
bring  it  into  relief,  to  eliminate  from  it  the  sources  of 
discord,  is  one  of  the  most  fruitful  tasks  which  a 
Christian  preacher  can  set  before  himself  and  those 
who  hear  him. 

In  order  to  do  this,  we  need  not  go  to  any  other 
quarter  than  the  grand  doctrine  of  St.  Paul  which  is 
affirmed  by  our  own  Church  with  special  emphasis, 
the  doctrine  of  salvation  through  faith  only :  the 
doctrine  that  faith  is  the  supreme,  the  central,  the  all- 
sufficing  principle,  in  comparison  with  which  all  else 
is  insignificant,  the  token  of  standing  or  falling  in  the 
Church  or  in  the  individual.  We  have  only  to  rally 
men  once  more  to  this  great  battle  cry  of  the  spiritual 
warfare,  showing  what  it  means  to  the  thought  of  the 
present  day,  pointing  out  how  grand  and  simple  a 
thing  faith  is,  and  eliminating  from  it  all  that  is  not 
essential.  If  we  can  do  this  and  can  show  where  in 
the  present  day  the  chief  fields  for  its  exercise  lie, 
we  may  do  something  towards  abolishing  our  angry 
differences,  by  helping  men  to  rise  above  them. 

The  central  object  of  faith  is  God  as  He  is  re- 
vealed in  Jesus  Christ.  The  image  of  Christ,  the 
ideal  of  His  life,  this  it  is  which  declares  and  makes 
known  to  us  what  God  really  is  ;  and  this,  presented 
to  the  mind  and  embraced  by  faith,  has  power  to 
bring  all  men  into  unity.  We  have  been  far  too  apt 
to  look  at  this  as  if  it  were  an  object  for  precise 


42  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life, 

intellectual  statement ;  and  then  faith  has  become  a 
matter  of  minute  knowledge,  instead  of  being  a  grand 
and  simple  affection  in  which  all  our  powers  are 
combined.  What  we'  need  is  to  realise  that  faith  is 
a  deep  moral  principle,  which,  because  it  is  so  simple, 
shows  itself  in  a  thousand  different  ways,  in  the  child 
and  in  the  man,  in  the  untaught  and  in  the  learned, 
in  those  in  whom  faith  is  beginning  and  those  in 
whom  it  has  reached  a  full  development.  We  need 
to  get  rid  of  its  limitations,  and  to  make  all  men  in 
whom  it  is  working  realise  that  it  is  theirs  ;  to  recog- 
nise it  wherever  it  is  found,  to  trace  it  in  its  direct 
forms,  and  to  draw  the  whole  world  within  its  all- 
embracing  unity. 

I.  Faith  is  trust  in  a  person.  But  we  are  not  to 
exact  that  he  in  whom  it  exists  should  have  satisfied 
himself  minutely  as  to  every  part  of  the  object 
towards  which  his  faith  is  directed,  for  that  object  is 
moral  and  infinite.  In  the  present  day  it  is  im- 
possible for  us  to  have  an  absolute  historical  certainty 
about  many  of  the  events  in  the  life  of  our  Lord 
out  of  which  grows  that  image  which  we  recognise 
as  divine.  This  does  not  imply  that  the  moral  image 
is  blurred,  or  that  the  main  outlines  of  the  character 
are  objects  of  doubt.  The  existence  of  the  Church, 
the  Christian  character  throughout  its  history,  the 
self-consistency  of  the  ideal  presented  in  the  Gospel, 
the  far-reaching  truths  which  encircle  it,  the  complete 
originality  of  the  life  and  words  which  yet  ally  them- 
selves with  human  nature  in  all  ages  and  climes,  are 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith.  43 


so  many  anchors  of  our  faith  which  make  it  certain 
that  there  is  a  fitting  and  adequate  object  to  which 
it  is  directed.  But  faith  is  a  spiritual,  not  an  intel- 
lectual act.  It  cannot,  indeed,  live  if  its  supposed 
object  is  non-existent,  and  it  is  ruined  by  a  false 
profession.  Nevertheless,  it  is  not  so  tied  to  facts 
and  definitions  that  it  must  halt  and  hesitate  till 
every  question  which  can  be  asked  concerning  the 
nature  of  God  and  the  life  of  Christ  is  fully  answered. 
It  is  much  more  important  that  faith  should  be 
sincere  than  that  it  should  be  fully  informed.  Faith 
is  akin  to  love,  and  love  is  often  genuine  when  its 
object  is  dimly  seen.  Nay,  since  we  acknowledge 
the  Godhead  to  be  immense  and  incomprehensible, 
it  is  quite  possible  that  the  most  genuine  faith  should 
be  that  of  a  child's  simplicity  and  ignorance,  rather 
than  that  of  a  man's  reasoning  intellect ;  and,  as  a 
fact  of  Christian  history,  faith  has  suffered  much 
more  from  over-definition  than  from  indistinctness  in 
its  object.  Certainly  the  greatest  quarrels  among 
Christians  have  arisen  from  the  attempt  to  define 
what  might  well  have  been  left  indefinite,  what  truth- 
fulness would  hav6  declared  it  impossible  to  define. 
Let  it  be  enough  for  us  that  we  have  in  the  Gospels 
an  image  of  goodness  which  represents  to  us  the 
character  of  God.  To  that  our  faith  adheres,  and 
finds  in  it  life  and  peace. 

2.  But,  further,  the  faith  which  unites  us  to  the 
image  of  Christ  is  deeper  as  well  as  less  definite  than 
it  is  commonly  assumed  by  theologians  to  be.    It  is 


44 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


not  a  mere  assent,  but  a  living  sympathy  with  good- 
ness. That  which  made  the  disciples  exclaim,  "  Thou 
art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,"  or,  "  Lord, 
show  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth  us,"  was  not  that 
part  of  His  life  which  is  strange  and  unintelligible  to 
us,  or  which  historical  criticism  may  tend  to  make 
uncertain,  but  that  which  we  can  share  with  Him, 
that  which  draws  out  the  sympathy  of  our  common 
nature.  It  was  the  love,  the  truthfulness,  the  forbear- 
ance, the  tenderness,  the  resolute  self-sacrifice  which 
their  master  displayed,  and  which  was  drawn  forth 
more  distinctly  when  trials  deepened  and  the  shades 
thickened  round  Him  in  the  closing  months  of  His 
ministry.  Of  this  image  mankind  can  never  be 
robbed.  '  However  men  may  differ  as  to  the  precise 
events  in  which  this  image  of  goodness  was  mani- 
fested, the  character  which  is  expressed  in  the  two 
constantly-recurring  words  of  St.  Paul,  "  The  love  of 
Christ,"  and  "  The  cross  of  Christ,"  will  always  remain 
to  mankind  as  the  highest  expression  of  moral  good- 
ness, as  the  divine  manifested  in  human  nature. 

To  this  it  is  that  faith  attaches  itself.  We  are 
conscious  as  we  look  upon  the  image  of  Christ,  that 
we  have  at  least  the  capacity  for  feelings  and  deeds 
like  His.  If  the  first  result  of  the  view  of  a  supreme  ■ 
goodness  is  that  which  finds  vent  in  the  words 
"  Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O  Lord," 
yet  there  is  really  generated  in  us  a  sympathy  with 
the  goodness  which  seems  so  distant  from  us.  We 
own  it  in  our  consciences  as  that  which  is  best,  as 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith. 


45 


that  which  ought  to  be  ours.  It  lights  up  for  us  the 
whole  moral  world,  it  brings  out  good  and  evil  in 
their  most  marked  colours  ;  and  it  discloses  to  us  the 
true  character  of  moral  goodness,  freeing  it  from  the 
integuments  with  which  selfishness  had  bound  it  up. 
We  know,  by  that  conscience  which  is  the  reflection 
of  the  divine  truth  within  us,  and  which  the  image  of 
Christ  tends  constantly  to  purge  from  its  natural 
dimness,  that  this  is  what  the  supreme  mind  must 
approve,  that  this  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God. 

And  the  sympathy  which  we  thus  feel  is  inde- 
pendent of  particular  systems.  The  metaphysical 
questions  even  as  to  the  nature  of  God  do  not  affect 
it  vitally.  Whether  the  strict  monotheistic  tendency ' 
be  maintained,  or  whether  that  more  spiritual  tendency 
prevail  which  tends  to  trace  out  the  divine  in  the 
evolving  forces  of  nature  and  of  mankind,  the  image 
of  Christ  remains  ever  before  us,  chastening  our 
speculations,  and  bringing  us  back  to  human  life  as 
the  proper  study  of  mankind,  and  making  us  feel  that, 
since  man  is  the  head  of  the  creation,  and  the  image 
of  God,  the  true  entrance  to  theology  and  religion  is 
not  in  metaphysics  but  in  morals,  not  in  speculation 
as  to  the  origin  of  matter  or  the  natural  history  of  the 
world,  but  in  a  right  estimate  of  moral  goodness,  and 
a  heart-felt  sympathy  with  it.  It  is  the  heart  that' 
makes  the  Christian  ;  and  the  heart  is  occupied,  not 
with  the  subtilties  and  disputation  of  metaphysics,  but 
with  the  reconciling  power  of  love. 

Moreover,  the  more  we  believe  in  a  Christ  who  is 


46  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

the  divine  type,  the  root,  the  holder  together  of  all 
the  creation  and  of  all  human  nature,  the  more 
certain  we  feel  that,  in  holding  to  truth  and  love 
where  they  are  found,  men  are  holding  to  Christ 
himself  By  unbelievers  this  might  be  doubted  ;  but 
by  believers  in  Christ  it  must  be  held  true.  And  this 
enables  us  to  embrace  (whether  they  respond  to  the 
embrace  or  not)  all  who  have  a  sympathy  with  good- 
ness, even  in  its  simplest  elements.  They  may 
misconceive  of  the  metaphysical  nature  of  God,  or 
the  relation  of  the  Father  to  the  Son  ;  they  may  not 
be  able  to  receive  some  of  the  facts  relating  to  the  life 
of  Christ  as  told  us  in  the  Gospel ;  nay,  it  may  be 
that  through  prejudice  they  may  deem  it  right  to 
combat  many  things  which  Christians  hold  dear,  to 
rank  themselves  and  be  ranked  by  us  among  unbe- 
lievers, and  yet  there  may  be  in  them  still  a  real  and 
deep  faith,  a  faith  far  truer  than  that  which  blindly 
assents  to  all  the  articles  of  our  Churches  ;  and  the 
object  of  this  faith,  dimly  seen  or  misconceived  as 
it  may  be  by  them,  is  none  other  than  the  image  of 
Christ,  which  is  made  to  appear  to  them,  not  full- 
orbed  in  the  splendour  and  force  of  His  personality, 
but  diffused  through  literature,  and  art,  and  history, 
and  politics,  and  philanthropy,  and  the  whole  human 
society,  which,  once  possessed  of  Him,  can  never 
again  forget  Him.  The  faith  which  is  strongest,  and 
which  unites  men  together  is  not  primarily  the  belief 
in  the  Church  or  the  sacraments,  in  the  miraculous 
birth  of  Christ  or  his  bodily  resurrection,  nor  even 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith.    '  47 

that  which  we  call,  perhaps  with  too  much  confidence 
and  strictness,  the  Personality  of  God.  These  are  the 
supports  and  guarantees,  the  external  fences  or  the 
outgrowths  of  faith.  But  the  faith  which  saves  and 
which  makes  us  true  to  our  Lord  is  that  which 
welcomes  truth  and  goodness,  and  treasures  them 
up  ;  for  these  are  the  very  nature  of  God.  Let  the 
heart  be  filled  with  the  image  of  Christ ;  and  this  will 
lead  you  on  to  life  and  immortality,  to  a  fuller  view  of 
God,  and  to  the  filling  up  of  the  outlines  of  the  life  of 
Christ.  But  the  reverse  process  does  not  necessarily 
hold  good.  Doctrines  and  facts  are  no  substitutes  for 
faith,  nor  even  the  necessary  channels  through  which 
it  courses.  It  was  not  the  highest  faith  which  dic- 
tated the  cry,  Blessed  is  the  womb  that  bare  thee 
and  the  paps  which  thou  hast  sucked."  "Yea  rather," 
says  Christ,  "  blessed  are  they  which  hear  the  Word 
of  God  and  keep  it." 

3.  Faith  is  not  only  trust  and  sympathy  but 
aspiration.  This  makes  it  at  once  both  deeper  and 
wider  in  its  embrace ;  deeper,  because  it  involves  a 
personal  appropriation  of  that  divine  goodness  which 
is  the  object  of  faith  ;  wider,  because  it  recognises  as 
partakers  of  faith  all  who,  from  whatever  distance, 
are  tending  and  aspiring  towards  the  same  spiritual 
centre.  It  is  a  commonplace  among  divines  and 
preachers  that  a  very  imperfect  knowledge  is  con- 
sistent with  true  faith,  and  that  a  very  little  faith 
will  save  a  man.  And  every  one  who  is  conversant 
with  the  deeper  feelings  of  men  must  have  observed 


48  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

how  often  amidst  their  apparent  carelessness  there 
emerges  a  longing  for  good,  a  discontent  with  their 
present  condition,  a  longing  for  some  ideal,  dimly 
seen,  but  which  the  heart  confesses  and  appropriates. 
Such 'an  aspiration,  such  a  faith,  may  be  found  in  the 
wayward  longings  of  the  heathen,  Seeking  the  Lord 
if  haply  they  may  feel  after  Him  and  find  Him."  It 
may  be  found  in  the  silent  faith  of  men  "  Perplexed 
in  faith  but  pure  in  deed."  It  may  be  found  in  many 
of  the  strange  and  formal  expressions  of  those  whose 
form  of  belief  repels  us,  but  who  sincerely  follow  the 
truth  as  they  understand  it.  We  need  never  doubt 
that,  as  the  fuller  truth  appears  to  them,  they  will 
embrace  it,  and  we  must  strive  to  bring  that  fuller 
^  truth  before  them.  But  meanwhile  we  can  acknow- 
ledge each  honest  desire  for  good  as  the  witness  of 
the  presence  of  genuine  faith.  It  is  not  the  part  of 
Christians  to  deny  or  make  light  of  such  an  aspira- 
tion whenever  it  may  be  found,  but  to  assume  it  to  be 
the  mark  of  the  drawing  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  by 
their  sympathy  to  foster  it  into  maturity. 

This  faith,  which  we  have  thus  tried  to  illustrate 
in  its  simplest  elements  of  trust,  of  sympathy,  of 
aspiration,  St.  Paul  announced  as  a  power  which 
liberated  men  from  "  the  law  of  commandments  con- 
tained in  ordinances."  Those  formal  injunctions, 
decrees,  or  dogmas  (so  the  word  stands  in  the  Greek) 
which  have  been  taken  to  be  the  permanent  expres- 
sions of  the  Divine  whether  among  the  Jews  or 
among  the  heathen,  were  swept  away  by  the  breath 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith.  49 

of  faith.  Not  that  they  were  necessarily  abrogated 
as  human  institutions,  but  that  the  human  spirit,  even 
while  obeying  them,  felt  itself  free,  by  soaring  above 
them  into  the  higher  atmosphere  of  faith  and  love. 
Judaism  had  been  a  powerful  means  (as  it  is  .even 
now)  of  binding  men  together.  But  its  bond  was 
that  of  a  sectional  union,  which  had  become  anta- 
gonistic to  the  fuller  union  demanded  by  Christian 
universality.  It  was  a  shield  on  one  side  of  which 
was  inscribed  Union  of  the  chosen  people,"  but  on 
the  other,  "  Alienation  from  all  mankind."  And,  cost 
what  it  might,  the  Apostle  proclaimed  the  abolition 
of  the  Jewish  ordinances  or  dogmata — their  abolition, 
that  is,  as  a  binding  and  divine  sanction  for  society. 
Christian  faith  and  love  was  henceforth  to  be  the 
only  and  all-sufficient  bond  of  union.  What !  are  we 
to  trust  to  a  mere  attachment  to  a  person,  a  fleeting, 
unstable  sentiment,  instead  of  the  grand  old  institu- 
tions of  the  law,  which  have  been  like  the  firmament 
above  us  and  the  solid  ground  beneath  our  feet  t 
How  weak !  How  infatuated !  How  contrary  to 
all  experience  !  How  lawless  !  How  ignorant  of  our 
poor  human  nature,  which  needs  these  dogmata  for 
its  support !  Such  must  have  been  the  cries  of 
Pharisees  and  of  worldly  men  alike  ;  for  to  such  men 
the  devices  and  management  of  clever  persons,  and 
the  pondtis  inertice  of  the  lower  elements  of  human 
life  are  always  the  basis  of  calculation.  But  faith 
and  love  were  stronger  bonds  than  Jewish  or  Gentile 
ordinances,  and  the  spiritual  law  was  more  binding 
D 


50  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

than  the  external  law.  And  whenever  Christian 
preachers  have  dared  to  trust  themselves,  like  St. 
Paul,  to  the  simple  force  of  conviction  and  love^  they 
have  reaped  a  harvest  which  no  support  of  ordinances 
and  dogmas  could  ever  bring  them. 

Are  we  not  suffering,  my  brethren,  in  the  present 
day  from  the  bondage  of  the  ordinances  or  dogmas 
of  the  past?  Are  not  these  precisely  the  things 
which  need  to  be  "  taken  out  of  the  way,"  if  Christi- 
anity is  to  be  once  more  a  reconciler,  not  a  divider  ? 
The  controversies  of  the  i6th  and  17th  centuries 
were  hardened  down  into  institutions  of  worship  and 
propositions  about  Christian  doctrine  which,  in  their 
rigid,  unbending  form,  have  become  the  perpetuators 
of  separation.  They  do  not,  when  taken  as  absolute 
and  exclusive  formularies,  correspond  to  the  convic- 
tions of  the  present  day,  and  they  are,  as  such,  quite 
alien  from  the  more  spiritual  life  which  our  age 
demands.  It  is  not  that  these  institutions  or  dogmata 
require  any  revolutionary  handling,  any  more  than 
St.  Paul  would  have  wished  to  destroy  the  social  and 
political  customs  of  the  Jews  ;  what  is  needed  is  such 
an  adaptation  of  Christian  worship  as  will  recognise 
the  requirements  of  all  true  worshippers,  and  such  an 
explanation  of  dogmas  as  will  allow  room  for  the 
larger  convictions  which  are  the  necessary  growth  of 
the  three  most  active  centuries  of  the  world  and  the 
Church's  history.  But  just  as  St.  Paul  dethroned  the 
law  from  its  exclusive  supremacy  and  its  supposed 
everlasting  sanction  which  had  made  it  the  foe  of 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith.  51 

faith,  so  must  the  Christian  preacher  of  our  day  fight 
against  the  tendency  which  he  sees  on  all  sides  to 
erect  the  ordinances  of  the  4th  century  or  the  8th, 
of  the  1 6th  or  the  i/th,  into  everlasting  barriers. 
Not  circumcision  nor  uncircumcision — not  Catholic 
nor  Protestant,  not  Church  or  Dissent,  not  Episcopacy 
or  other  forms  of  Church  government,  nor  the  articles 
and  theological  statements  of  Nice  or  Rimini  or 
Toledo,  not  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  or 
the  Augsburg  Confession,  or  the  XXXIX.  Articles, 
or  the  Westminster  Catechism,  but  faith  that  worketh 
by  love,  and  the  keeping  of  the  commandments  of 
God. 

I  had  hoped  to  touch  upon  another  portion  of 
this  subject,  and  to  show  that  faith  must  be  recog 
nised  in  the  present  day  as  developing  itself  in  the 
common  relations  of  life  quite  as  much  as  in  worship 
or  in  preaching ;  and  that  a  due  attention  to  this 
is  one  of  the  most  hopeful  means  of  furthering  union 
amongst  men.  But  the  time  fails  me.  I  may  hope 
to  address  you  at  a  future  time  on  this  and  similar 
points.  For  the  present  let  me  urge  upon  the  various 
sections  of  opinion  how  the  supremacy  of  Christian 
faith,  v/hen  fully  acknowledged,  may  help  them  to  be 
at  one  and  to  promote  that  godliness  and  honesty 
for  which  unity  is  so  greatly  required. 

Is  it  too  much  to  assume  that  the  ideal  of  the 
Christian  life  is  common  to  us  all,  acknowledged  by 
us  all  as  morally  supreme  t    It  seems  to  me,  at  least, 
that  it  has  never  been  seriously  questioned  ;  for  those 
D  2 


52  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

who  attack  Christian  systems  rarely,  if  ever,  attack 
the  ideal  of  the  Christian  life ;  nay,  such  men  are 
frequently  the  most  vehement  assertors  of  truly  Chris- 
tian principles,  and  not  rarely  appeal  to  Christian 
sanctions  for  their  enforcement.  Does  any  one  really 
doubt  that  the  life  of  self-devotion  and  love,  of  truth 
and  courage,  which  is  the  Christian  ideal,  is  the  true 
life  of  man  ?  Or,  again,  that  this  ideal  is  itself  "the 
truth,"  the  central  and  paramount  truth  to  which  all 
other  kinds  of  truth  are  secondary. 

I.  Are  there,  then,  some  among  us  who,  by  their 
excessive  value  for  Christian  ordinances  or  dogmas, 
for  sacraments,  and  the  order  of  the  ministry,  are 
practically  placing  the  life  of  Christian  faith  in  the 
second  rank.-^  Let  them  consider  whether,  in  their 
zeal  for  those  things  which  they  account  the  fences 
and  bulwarks  of  Christianity,  they  are  not  letting  the 
essence  escape  them.  It  has  befen  said  that  the 
Roman  Catholic  system  is  a  vast  apparatus  for 
guarantees,  under  which  the  thing  guaranteed  is  apt 
to  disappear.  And  the  same  thing  may  be  said  of 
that  tendency  which  may  be  called  Clericalism,  which 
is  dominant  in  the  Anglican  Church  at  the  present 
day.  No  one  can  fail  to  see  that  this  tendency  is 
alienating  class  after  class  of  men.  Where  it  reigns 
unchecked,  all  elements  of  free  thought  are  repressed, 
lest  some  dogma  should  be  shaken ;  no  form  of 
Protestantism  except  the  Anglican  Church  is  recog- 
nised, and  yet  we  are  no  nearer  to  union  with  any  of 
the  forms  of  so-called  Catholicism,  the  three  chief 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith.  53 


sections  of  which  cannot  kneel  together  at  the  sacra- 
ment. And,  further,  rehgion  is  being  gradually 
eliminated  from  common  life,  and  is  thought  of  as 
consisting  only  in  services,  and  preaching,  and  devo- 
tional practices  ;  and  hence  the  breach  between  the 
Church  and  the  world  grows  wider.  And,  wherever 
this  is  the  case,  the  Christian  ideal  suffers.  Elements 
of  good  which  thrive  in  the  open  atmosphere  of  the 
common  life  of  mankind  are  disowned  ;  and  the  great 
Christian  ideal  is  drav/n  down  from  its  commanding 
position  of  universality  to  ,  become  the  life  of  the 
cloister  or  the  confessional,  of  the  clique  or  the 
coterie,  timorous  instead  of  manly,  narrow  instead  of 
expansive,  suspicious  of  change  and  of  discovery,  the 
foe  of  human  progress  instead  of  its  most  ardent 
promoter.  It  is  supposed,  no  doubt,  that,  although 
the  witness  of  experience  is  such  as  I  have  just 
described,  yet  there  is  an  obligation  on  us  to  obey 
certain  injunctions  of  discipline  or  of  doctrine  which 
are  presumed  to  have  a  divine  authority,  and  to 
uphold  them  in  their  most  rigid  form,  whatever  the 
consequences  may  be.  But  the  doctrine  of  the 
supremacy  of  faith  places  these  injunctions  in  their 
true  position.  They  are  in  any  case  of  secondar}.', 
not  primary,  importance.  If  we  can  but  acknow- 
ledge that  all  these  ordinances  or  dogmas  are  only  of 
virtue  as  conducing  to  the  Christian  life,  and  that  this 
Christian  life  and  the  fellowship  which  flows  from  it 
is  the  first  thing,  to  which  all  else  must  be  subor- 
dinate, the  evils  which  I  have  noticed  as  flowing  from 


54  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

clericalism  would  soon  be  counteracted.  What  is 
called  for  is  not  so  much  the  abandonment  of  parti- 
cular practices  or  dogmas,  as  that  these  practices  or 
dogmas  should  be  viewed  as  holding  the  second  rank, 
as  comparatively  indifferent,  that  they  should  be 
modified  by  the  experience  of  their  effect  upon  the 
life  of  individuals  and  of  the  community,  that  facts  as 
to  piety  and  conduct  lying  outside  the  range  of  our  own 
peculiar  system  should  not  only  not  be  ignored,  but 
be  sought  out  and  compared,  that  the  unity  of  the 
spirit  should  be  supreme,  and  the  unity  of  external 
order  be  secondary. 

2.  And  are  there  some,  again,  who,  repelled  by 
the  dogmatism  and  narrowness  which  has  been  ad- 
mitted into  Christian  systems,  are  tempted  to  put  the 
whole  matter  aside  ?  Since  you  find  Christianity 
identified  by  many  of  its  teachers  with  a  system 
which  seems  to  deny  freedom  and  progress  and  to 
assert  as  essential  what  is  really  questionable,  are  you 
induced  to  doubt  whether  it  is  possible  honestly  to 
remain  Christians  at  all  ?  It  is  surely  worth  while  to 
ask  whether  you  are  not  giving  too  great  weight  to 
assertions  which  have  no  necessary  authority,  how- 
ever widely  they  may  be  received,  and  whether  you 
are  not  mistaking  for  the  essence  what  is  really  the 
accident.  If  the  Christian  ideal  is  unimpeachable,  and 
if  the  ideal  of  life  is  really  the  thing  of  central  im- 
portance, then  the  fact  that  a  system  of  institutions 
or  dogmas  has  grown  up  around  it  which  is  of 
doubtful  or  less  than  doubtful  good,  must  not  be 


Unity  through  a  AIoral  Faith.  55 


allowed  to  make  us  indifferent  to  the  best  gift  of  God 
to  us.  I  believe  that  there  are  many  who,  with 
generous  dispositions  and  a  wish  to  do  good,  are 
repelled  from  all  the  ordinary  forms  of  Christian 
activity  by  the  association  of  these  with  a  Church 
system  full  of  assumptions  with  which  they  cannot 
agree.  We  cannot  pronounce  your  shibboleths,  they 
say,  and,  therefore,  we  cannot  join  with  you  ;  but  is 
it  right,  I  ask,  to  shut  up  our  sympathies  because 
there  is  some  dogmatic  hardness  in  others  }  In  some 
matters  of  a  voluntary  kind  such  a  course  no  doubt  is 
justifiable.  Some  society  which  we  are  asked  to  join 
has  its  management  distracted  by  petty  controversy, 
and  we  may  rightly  refuse  to  join  it  and  ma}-  carry 
our  energies  elsewhere.  But  you  cannot  do  this  with 
the  all-embracing  society  of  the  Christian  Church. 
The  effort  to  do  moral  work  outside  of  it  or  without 
and  reference  to  it  can  hardly  ever  produce  more  than 
sectional  and  transient  results  ;  for  it  implies  that  we 
leave  out  of  view  the  greatest  of  all  the  features  of 
the  common  interest.  You  may  begin  some  good 
work  without  any  reference  to  Christianity ;  but 
sooner  or  later  you  come  in  contact  with  Christian 
belief  and  Christian  institutions.  It  may  be,  of 
course,  that  the  perplexity  is  so  hopeless  that  you 
must  stand  outside  and  live  your  life  apart,  and  leave  to 
a  future  generation  the  task  of  harmonising  what  you 
do  with  the  general  good.  There  are  many  such  lives 
lived  now,  and  it  is  not  for  the  Church  to  disown 
them.    But  I  urge  upon  those  who  are  so  living  to 


56  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

ask  themselves  whether  there  is  any  valid  reason  for 
their  isolation.  Is  not  the  desire  for  good  and  the 
zeal  which  you  feel  within  you  truly  Christian,  and 
the  very  essence  of  Christianity  ?  Can  you,  and  can 
those  who  follow  you,  afford  to  dispense  with  the 
help  of  the  great  Christian  brotherhood  ?  And  have 
you  any  right  to  leave  to  those  who  come  after  you  a 
tangled  web  to  unweave,  and  an  occasion  of  fresh 
misunderstanding  ?  Is  it  not  a  manlier  thing  to  face 
the  larger  problems  instead  of  being  content  with 
merely  sectional  action  ?  If  the  Christian  doctrine  is 
cumbrous  and  allied  to  some  things  which  are  false, 
show  by  your  life,  and  by  any  contributions  you  can 
make  to  the  solution  of  our  difficulties,  the  power  of 
a  simpler  faith.  If  thfe  Church  is  overlaid  with  things 
non-essential,  take  your  part  in  reforming  it  on  a 
better  model.  But  do  not  give  up  the  grandest  of  all 
objects  to  which  the  mind  of  man  can  apply  itself,  the 
building  up  of  the  great  temple  of  humanity  in  har- 
monious conviction  and  united  energy  beneath  the 
broad  canopy  which  the  Christian  ideal  has  raised  to 
shelter  all  mankind. 

3.  Once  more,  are  there  some  of  us  who  are 
accustomed  to  speak  of  the  supremacy  of  faith,  and 
who  would  echo  the  words  of  the  Reformer  that  this 
is  the  article  of  a  standing  or  a  falling  Church,  but 
who  hold  what  may  be  called  a  traditional  view  of 
what  faith  means  and  what  it  does  ?  Are  there  some 
to  whom  faith  means  a  belief  in  certain  propositions, 
and  justification  merely  a  sentence  of  acquittal,  and 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith. 


57 


the  manner  in  which  justification  has  been  brought 
about  a  compact  by  which  it  is  arranged  that  the 
innocent  should  endure  a  penalty  instead  of  the 
guilty  ?  I  have  no  doubt  that  true  faith  is  constantly 
to  be  found  under  the  disguise  (for  so  it  must  be 
called)  of  statements  such  as  these,  which  are  a 
hardening  down  into  logical  form  of  the  deep  and 
passionate  expressions  of  divine  rhetoric  or  poetry. 
But  I  would  make  two  requests  of  those  who  cast 
their  faith  in  such  moulds  as  these  :  ist,  That  they 
would  not  exact  these  shibboleths  from  all  whom 
they  teach,  nor  judge  others  who  cannot  pronounce 
them  to  be  unbelievers,  nor  do  themselves  and  the 
Church  the  wrong  of  isolating  themselves  into  a 
party  ;  but  that  they  would  try  to  trust  others  and 
would  open  themselves  to  free  discussions  which  will 
rob  them,  let  them  be  well  assured,  of  nothing  which 
is  essential,  but  will  give  wider  scope  to  their  sympa- 
thies and  greater  reality  to  a  well-tested  faith ;  and 
2ndly,  I  would  urge  them  to  hold  fast  by  their  own 
principle  of  the  supremacy  of  faith  and  not  to  fall 
back  into  a  feeble  ecclesiasticism.  Those  who  revived 
among  us  the  doctrines  of  justification  by  faith  and 
conversion  of  life  in  the  beginning  of  this  century 
did  not  appeal  to  the  order  of  the  ministry  or  the 
special  and  exclusive  customs  of  our  Church,  but 
set  men  face  to  face  with  God  and  the  Christian 
life :  and  if  their  doctrine  is  to  be  developed  by 
their  spiritual  heirs,  it  must  be  not  by  adding  to 
it  conditions  which  mar  its  very  essence,  but  by 


58  The  Gospel  of  the  Seculak  Life. 

making  it  more  divinely  simple  and  more  divinely 
comprehensive. 

4.  Can  we  not,  my  brethren,  unite  all  lovers  of 
good,  all  to  whom  the  image  of  Christ  is  dear,  in 
one  great  sustained  effort  against  evil,  the  only  real 
foe  ?  Why  should  there  be  parties  any  more  ?  Why 
cannot  we  all  be  one  party,  the  party  of  good 
against  evil  ? 

St.  Paul  says  that  the  power  by  which  Christ 
conquered  the  dogmas  of  his  day  was  the  cross. 

He  took  them  out  of  the  way,  nailing  them  to  his 
cross,"  The  self-renunciation  for  the  sake  of  universal 
love  of  which  the  cross  is  the  complete  expression 
was  the  destruction  of  the  proud  isolation  of  the 
dogmatic  system.  And  that  is  the  power  by  which 
alone  we  can  get  rid  of  the  party-making  dogmas  of 
our  time.  We  must  stoop  and  we  must  suffer,  that 
we  may  be  at  peace.  Peace  is  not  to  be  won  by 
easily  and  weakly  yielding  to  those  tendencies  of  our 
day  which  would  establish  a  religion  of  selfishness, 
but  by  that  humility  which  is  willing  to  put  aside  its 
own  conceit  and  to  confess  itself  a  fool  that  it  may  be 
spiritually  wise  :  which  accepts  and  glories  in  that 
which  is  simplest  and  humblest  in  religion.  It  seems 
at  times  as  if  men  were  almost  unconsciously  coming 
round  to  this  simpler  faith.  I  have  often  been  sur- 
prised to  find  among  those  who  have  in  public 
contended  most  eagerly  and  harshly  for  their  favourite 
dogmas  a  very  simple  and  homely  Christian  standard 
accepted  in  their  private  relations.    Beneath  those 


Unity  through  a  Moral  Faith. 


59 


things  which  divide  us  it  is  not  hard  to  perceive  a 
general  acquiescence  in  that  Christian  ideal  in  which 
we  are  at  one.  The  image  of  our  Lord  is  really  at 
the  root  of  our  religion.  Let  us  be  content  with  this, 
and  hold  all  other  things  subordinate  to  it ;  and  we 
shall  attract  all  true  hearts  to  our  side  and  war 
heartily  and  without  vacillation  against  selfishness  in 
all  its  forms. 

And  you,  young  men,  who  are  preparing  here  for  the 
conflicts  of  the  world,  and  by  the  free  life  and  thought 
of  the  University  are  strengthening  your  wills  and 
setting  the  edge  of  your  moral  dispositions  and  form- 
ing your  opinions  for  your  future  career  ;  I  beg  you, 
do  not  cast  away  the  freedom  which  you  enjoy  by 
addicting  yourselves  slavishly  to  any  of  the  special 
systems  between  which  young  minds  are  apt  to  oscil- 
late and  in  which  older  minds  get  unhappily  fixed. 
Lay  a  firm  grasp  by  faith  on  that  image  of  goodness 
which  is  held  out  to  you  in  Jesus  Christ.  Seek  to 
appropriate  that  goodness  by  prayer  and  aspiration  ; 
acknowledge  it  frankly  wherever  it  is  to  be  found  in 
others  ;  try  to  bring  within  the  range  of  its  influence 
every  part  of  your  life,  your  study,  your  amusements, 
your  social  intercourse,  your  intellectual  conflicts  ; 
ask  yourself,  in  reference  to  any  plan  or  proposition, 
not  whether  it  is  pleasant,  nor  whether  it  will  square 
with  certain  preconceived  opinions  of  your  own  or 
of  others,  but  whether  it  is  right  and  true.  And 
when  }-ou  have  got  sight  of  truth  and  goodness,  work 
steadily  towards  it  till  it  is  obtained.    Then  you  will 


6o  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

constantly  minister  to  the  cause  of  Christian  goodness, 
of  love,  of  unity  ;  and  in  your  future  calling,  whatever 
it  may  be,  you  will  exercise  upon  those  about  you 
that  attractive  and  redemptive  influence  which  will 
ever  accompany  those  who  have  within  them  the 
image  of  Christ. 


II. 

Religion  toitftout  a  Cemple* 


11. 

{Preached  before  the  University  of  Oxford,  February  2nd,  1879.) 


"And  I  saw  no  temple  therein  :  for  the  Lord  God  Almighty  and  the 
Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it.  And  the  city  had  no  need  of  the  sun, 
neither  of  the  moon,  to  shine  in  it :  for  the  glory  of  God  did  lighten 
it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof.  And  the  nations  of  them  which 
are  saved  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  it ;  and  the  kings  of  the  earth  do 
bring  their  glory  and  honour  into  it." — Revelations  xxi.  22 — 24. 


The  secret  which  the  Apocalypse,  in  common  with  all 
prophecy,  has  disclosed  to  this  generation,  shows  us 
that  the  seer  was  representing-,  for  the  comfort  of  his 
contemporaries,  the  times,  not  far  off,  but  near  at 
hand,  the' things  which  he  says  must  shortly  come  to 
pass — the  hour  that  cometh,  and  now  is.  The  prin- 
ciples which  are  enunciated  apply  to  all  times,  but 
the  vivid  descriptions  which  are  draw^n  apply 
primarily  to  the  events  which  are  beginning  to  dawn 
on  the  spiritual  insight  of  the  prophet.  The  new 
Jerusalem  is  not  the  description  solely,  if  chiefly,  of 
the  state  to  which  Christians  may  look  forward 
beyond  the  grave  ;  it  is  primarily  the  description  of 
Christendom,  the  actual  Christian  society,  idealised, 
no  doubt,  but  intended  in  all  its  chief  spiritual 
features  to  find  its  realisation  now  and  here.  It 


64  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

presents  to  us  an  ideal  towards  which  we  are  to 
strive,  as  one  capable  of  attainment  ;  and,  while  the 
spiritual  and  the  critical  faculty  alike  reject  the 
piecing  together  of  the  ideal  picture  with  its  antitype, 
they  alike  teach  us  that  here,  as  with  all  earnest 
poetry,  reality  lies  at  the  base  of  the  metaphor.  John 
meant  that  the  Church  which  he  longed  for  should  be 
what  his  imagery  foreshadows. 

The  feature  in  this  ideal  to  which  the  text  gives 
prominence  is,  when  we  consider  it,  ndthing  less  than 
astounding ;  namely,  this — that  the  appliances  of 
worship  are  completely  absent.  This  seer  of  the 
primitive  Church  was,  as  the  whole  book  shows, 
Jewish  to  the  backbone.  He  wrote,  as  criticism 
tends  to  show,  just  at  the  time  when  the  Roman 
eagles  were  about  to  swoop  down  upon  Jerusalem, 
the  Holy  City.  That  city  was  identified  with  the 
temple  which  was  its  centre.  The  capital  and  the 
point  of  union  of  the  Jewish  nation  was  a  place  of 
worship.  Yet  in  St.  John's  ideal  of  the  new  Jerusalem, 
which  was  in  many  things  to  be  the  counterpart  of 
the  old,  these  words  stand  forth  in  all  their  naked 
grandeur,  "  I  saw  no  temple  therein  !"  And  if  these 
words  imply,  as  they  unquestionably  do,  that  the 
ideal  of  the  primitive  Church  was  one,  not  of  worship, 
but  of  a  life  pervaded  by  the  Spirit  of  God  :  if  we 
accept^  as  we  are  bound  to  do,  this  ideal  as  our  own, 
then  we  must  admit  that  the  history  of  the  Church 
presents  something  which  is  even  more  astounding 
— namely  this,  that  the  Church  has  looked  upon 


Religion  without  a  Temple. 


65 


public  worship  and  its  appliances  as  its  main  object 
and  function.  During  the  whole  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  that  first  great  effort  at  the  realisation  of  the 
Christian  ideal,  the  building  of  places  of  worship, 
and  the  organising  of  hierarchies  to  serve  them, 
was  almost  the  sole  thought  of  Christians;  so  that 
the  Reformation  had  to  set  about  the  melancholy 
work  of  pulling  down  the  splendid  abbeys  and 
chantries,  the  fruit  of  a  misdirected  zeal.  Their 
doom  was  shadowed  forth  in  the  words  of  William 
Tyndale,  the  translator  of  the  Scriptures,  and  one  of 
the  most  far-seeing  of  our  Reformers,  in  the  answer 
he  gave  to  the  jest  of  Sir  Thomas  More  about  the 
building  of  Tenterden  steeple.  The  great  Chan- 
cellor's jest  is  widely  known  ;  the  Reformer's  answer 
deserves  to  be  known  as  widely :  Neither  intend  I 
to  prove  to  you  that  Paul's  steeple  is  the  cause  why 
the  Thames  is  broke  in  about  Erith,  or  that  Ten- 
terden steeple  is  the  cause  of  the  decay  of  Sandwich 
Haven,  as  Master  More  jesteth.  Nevertheless,  this  I 
would  were  persuaded  unto  you  (as  it  is  true),  that 
the  building  of  them  and  such  like,  through  the  false 
faith  that  we  have  in  them,  is  the  decay  of  all  the 
havens  in  England,  and  of  all  the  cities,  towns,  high- 
ways, and  shortly  of  the  whole  commonwealth.  For 
since  these  false  monsters  crope  up  into  our  con- 
ciences,  and  robbed  us  of  the  knowledge  of  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  making  us  believe  in  such  pope- 
holy  works,  and  to  think  that  there  was  none  other 
way  into  Heaven,  we  have  not  wearied  to  build  them 
E 


66 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


abbeys,  cloisters,  colleges,  chauntries,  and  cathedral 
churches  with  high  steeples,  striving  and  envying  one 
another  who  should  do  most.  And  as  for  the  deeds 
which  pertain  to  our  neighbours  and  to  the  common- 
wealth, we  have  not  regarded  at  all,  as  things  which 
seem  no  holy  works,  or  such  as  God  would  not  once 
look  upon.  And,  therefore,  we  left  them  unseen  to,  until 
they  were  past  remedy,  or  past  our  power  to  remedy 
them  ;  inasmuch  as  our  slow  bellies,  with  their  false 
blessings,  had  juggled  away  from  us  thatwherewith  they 
might  have  been  holpen  in  due  season.  So  that  the 
silly  poor  man  (though  he  had  haply  no  wisdom  to  ex- 
press his  mind,  or  that  he  durst  not,  or  that  Master 
More  fashioneth  his  tale,  as  he  doth  other  men's,  to  jest 
out  the  truth)  saw  that  neither  Goodwin  Sands,  nor  any 
other  cause  alleged,  was  the  decay  of  Sandwich  Haven, 
so  much  as  that  the  people  had  no  heart  to  maintain 
the  commonwealth,  for  blind  devotion  which  they  had 
to  pope-holy  works."  {D emails'  Life  of  Tyndale,  p.  277.) 

That  Tyndale  should  have  had  to  write  this 
1,500  years  after  the  vision  of  Patmos  is  strange 
enough.  But  if  it  is  strange  that  the  Church  of  the 
darker  ages  should  have  needed  so  bitter  a  lesson, 
is  it  not  ten  times  stranger  still  that  the  Church  of 
the  days  of  greater  enlightenment  should  be  found 
again  making  the  chief  part  of  its  business  the 
organising  of  the  modes  of  worship,  that  the  largest 
efforts  which  -are  owned  as  the  efforts  of  the  Church 
are  made  for  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
worship  —  that  our  chief  controversies  relate  to  the 


Religion  without  a  Temple. 


67 


teaching  and  the  ministry  of  a  system  designed 
primarily,  if  not  exclusively,  for  worship — that  even 
the  fancies  and  the  refinements  of  such  a  system 
divide  us — that  the  breach  between  things  secular  and 
things  religious  grows  wider  instead  of  their  being 
made  to  blend  into  one — and  that  the  vast  and 
fruitful  spaces  of  the  actual  life  of  mankind  lie  still  so 
largely  without  the  gates  ?  The  old  Jerusalem  was 
all  temple.  The  mediaeval  Church  was  all  temple. 
But  the  ideal  of  the  new  Jerusalem  was — no  temple, 
but  a  God-inhabited  society.  Are  we  not  reversing 
this  ideal  in  an  age  when  the  Church  still  means  in  so 
many  mouths  the  clergy,  instead  of  meaning  the  Chris- 
tian society,  and  when  nine  men  are  striving  to  get 
men  to  go  to  church  for  one  who  is  striving  to  make 
men  realise  that  they  themselves  are  the  Church  } 

There  is  no  temple  in  the  new  Jerusalem.  It  is 
not  a  system  of  worship  that  Christianity  came  to 
bring  to  mankind ;  it  is  not  a  religion,  as  religion 
has  usually  been  understood — a  system  of  worship 
abstracted  from  the  common  life  of  men.  It  came 
to  bind  men  together  in  just  and  true  relations,  to 
infuse  into  their  societies  the  Divine  spirit,  to  trans- 
figure the  coarse  vesture  of  humanity  with  that  di- 
vinity which  is  love,  till  it  shall  become  a  temple  in 
which  He  dwells.  Its  power  is  not  that  of  a  distant 
God  who  must  be  approached  by  special  ceremonies, 
by  special  modes  of  life  and  thought,  by  shaping 
humanity  into  some  peculiar  attitude,  but  the  power  of 
a  present  God.  The  title  of  its  Founder  is  Immanuel, 
E  2 


68 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


God  with  us,  God  in  us,  God  making  Himself  a  home 
in  all  the  relations  by  which  love  and  justice  draw  man 
to  man,  and  class  to  class,  and  nation  to  nation  ;  a 
God  who  is  known  and  realised  in  the  tenderness  of 
fatherly  and  motherly  and  filial  affection,  the  rapture  of 
married  love,  the  steadiness  of  friendship,  the  honesty  of 
trade  relations,  the  loyalty  of  citizenship,  the  righteous- 
ness of  political  rule,  the  peace  which  is  destined  to  bind 
together  all  mankind.  Where  these  exist  there  is  God ; 
where  they  are  not  He  is  absent.  All  worship  which 
does  not  aim  at  these  is  hypocrisy;  that  worship  alone 
is  Christian  worship  which  tends  to  their  establishment. 

It  is  not  a  quibble  or  a  verbal  criticism  to  observe 
that  the  vision  of  the  Apocalypse  represents  the 
natio7is  which  are  saved  as  walking  in  the  light  of 
the  Holy  City,  as  drinking  of  its  w^aters,  and  being 
healed  by  the  leaves  of  the  Tree  of  Life.  It  is  not  in 
individuals  that  the  fulness  of  the  Gospel  power  is 
realised,  but  in  great  societies  of  men.  The  body  of 
Christ  is  not  the  individual,  but  the  company  of 
believers.  The  God  whom  we  worship  is  not  the  bare 
individual  unity  which  some  would  assert,  but  the  God 
whose  name  is  Love,  the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Spirit  who  breathes  through  all  things.  And  the  image 
of  God  upon  earth  is  not  the  individual  soul,  which 
cannot  be  made  perfect  by  itself,  but  the  society  of 
men  who  dwell  in  faith  and  love.  This  is  the  body 
of  Christ,  the  fulness  of  Him  who  filleth  all  in  all. 

And  this  society  is  no  narrow  one  embracing  but  a 
part  of  human  life,  satisfying  one  only,  however  deep, 


Religion  without  a  Temple. 


69 


of  the  functions  of  humanity,  but  that  which  embraces 
the  whole  range  of  human  relations.  It  does  not 
embrace  only  the  gatherings  of  men  for  worship  or 
for  instruction  or  for  beneficence,  but  comprehends 
that  supreme  corporate  union  which  is  termed  the 
nation,  which,  by  a  Divine  sanction,  regulates  all  the 
relations  of  men,  and  from  which  there  is  no  appeal. 
The  nations,  in  which  alone  humanity  can  grow  to 
completeness,  must  themselves  become  churches, 
provinces  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

In  the  last  sermon  which  it  w^as  my  privilege  to 
address  to  this  audience  I  dwelt  on  faith  as  the  great 
reuniter  ;  I  pointed  out  how  strange  a  spectacle  was 
presented  by  the  enmities  arising  among  men  in  the 
name  of  Christianity,  and  showed  that  the  reuniting 
power  was  faith,  which  in  its  simplicity,  its  versatility, 
its  elevation,  transcends  or  passes  beyond  those  more 
limited  views  of  religion  which  cause  dissension,  and 
holds  fast  as  supreme  the  image  of  God  presented  to 
us  in  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  if  this  be 
granted,  it  may  still  be  asked  whether  the  outworking 
of  faith  must  not  make  it  pass  into  the  phase  in 
which  it  again  becomes  the  subject  of  contention. 
I\Iust  it  not  work  itself  out  into  propositions,  into 
concrete  facts,  into  institutions,  into  that  which  St. 
Paul  calls  the  dogmas  and  ordinances  of  men  And 
must  not  these  again,  as  the  Jewish  law  in  his  day, 
become  the  ground  of  dissension  and  of  enmity,  and 
so  must  not  the  old  evil  return  upon  us  ] 

The  answer  to  this  difficulty  which  I  gave  in  my 


70  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

former  sermon  was  that  faith,  the  holding  fast  of  the 
image  of  God  presented  in  the  character  of  Christ,  is 
supreme,  and  that  while  we  maintain  it  to  be  so,  the 
special  modes  in  which  it  is  expressed,  or  the  institu- 
tions in  which  men  seek  to  realise  it,  are  comparatively 
unimportant  When  we  see  the  largeness  and  variety 
of  faith,  we  are  not  induced  to  quarrel  with  one 
another  by  those  things  which  are  secondary  to  it  ; 
we  differ,  but  only  as  the  various  gifts  of  the  Spirit 
may  differ  in  those  who  confess  that  it  is  one  Lord 
who  worketh  all  in  all.  But  I  wish  to-day  to  point 
out  that  the  enmity  and  contention  arises  from  the 
fact  that  the  working  out  of  faith  so  often  takes  a 
wrong  direction.  Faith  is  not  best  promoted  when  men 
try  to  realise  it  in  a  system  of  religious  worship  and 
teaching  which  is  kept  separate  from  the  general  aims 
of  human  life,  instead  of  acknowledging  as  its  chief 
sphere  those  plain  human  relations  which  form  the  life 
of  mankind.  Religion,  as  a  separate  thing,  alien  from 
human  relations,  becomes,  through  this  very  enmity 
which  it  produces,  abhorrent  to  men,  and  the  conscience 
of  mankind  is  being  led  to  find  rest  in  the  working 
out  of  those  principles  which  bind  men  together  in 
society.  Christianity  is  destined,  by  the  very  law  of 
its  being,  so  to  infuse  itself  into  the  societies  and 
kingdoms  of  men  that  they  may  become  the  king- 
doms of  God  and  of  Christ ;  and  while  this  is  its  aim, 
everything  indicates  that  it  will  be  welcomed  more 
and  more  by  the  nations  which  are  bent  on  living  out 
their  life  in  peace  and   justice  and  liberty.  The 


Religion  without  a  Temple. 


71 


secular  life  lived  in  the  Spirit  of  our  Lord  is  the  great 
point  of  reconciliation  for  a  world  which  is  weary  of 
theological  and  ecclesiastical  strife. 

I  pointed  out  in  my  previous  discourse  how 
simple  a  thing  faith  is,  how  it  may  almost  be  said  to 
be  independent  of  dogma.  Wherever  there  is  an 
aspiration  after  goodness,  wherever  there  is  sympathy 
with  it,  there  is  faith  in  Christ.  We  need  not  change 
or  deny  any  of  the  dogmas  in  which  Christian 
thought  has  clothed  itself,  but  we  insist  that  they 
should  be  interpreted  in  connection  with  moral  good- 
ness ;  for  we  may  feel  sure  that  what  is  most  precious 
in  God's  sight,  what  is  recognised  by  God  as  the 
truest  faith,  is  the  vital  sentiment,  the  principle  of  a 
sacred  lif^,  which  Christ  came  to  build  up,  and  which 
must  underlie  all  that  is  said  or  done  in  His  name. 
This  faith,  which  is  capable  of  universality,  allies 
itself  most  readily  with  the  secular  life  of  man.  We 
cannot  expect  the  mass  of  men  to  take  an  interest  in  the 
technical  parts  of  religion,  in  the  details  of  the  modes 
of  worship,  or  the  peculiar  ways  of  expression  on  which 
most  controversies  turn.  These  are  the  professional 
business  of  a  class — the  ministers  of  public  Vv'orship,  the 
professed  theologians.  But  every  man,  nay,  every 
human  being,'can  learn  to  do  his  duty  as  in  God's  sight, 
and  in  the  Spirit  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  the 
more  each  one  is  earnestly  engaged  in  this  effort,  the 
more  he  will  feel  the  need  of  the  divine  help,  and  the 
more  he  will  lean  with  manly  trust  on  the  support  of 
Christ  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  contact  of  Christian 


72  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

faith  with  the  secular  life  is  good  for  both.  The  one  is 
prevented  from  sinking  into  weak  refinement,  the  other 
is  raised  from  its  grossnessto  becomethe  temple  of  God. 

Can  any  one  read  the  Gospels  without  preconcep- 
tions about  the  organisation  of  the  Church,  and  fail 
to  see  that  that  on  which  our  Saviour  was  intent  was 
the  raising  and  purifying  of  the  common  life  of  men? 
Whether  we  read  the  more  directly  practical  accounts 
of  the  synoptics  or  enter  into  the  deeper  tone  of  St. 
John,  the  same  truth  appears.  The  spirituality  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  not  that  of  meditation 
and  worship,  and  instruction  about  another  world, 
but  of  reality  and  depth  of  motive  in  all  we  do :  the 
direct  teaching  of  our  Lord  is  that  of  the  Fatherhood 
of  God,  the  assurance  of  forgiveness,  the  brother- 
hood of  man,  the  relations  of  the  family,  our  be- 
haviour towards  the  weak  and  sinful.  The  teaching 
of  the  parables  concerns  the  test  of  true  disciple- 
ship,  and  the  working  out  of  great  moral  principles 
in  the  life  of  men  and  of  societies.  The  deeper 
teaching  of  St.  John  proclaims  that  He  who  thus 
taught  and  pledged  His  life  to  His  teaching  was 
essentially  divine.  Nor  need  we  make  a  theological 
mystery  of  the  expression  used  as  to  His  death,  and 
the  blessed  consequences  which  have  flowed  from  it. 

The  meaning  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  Cross  is  that 
self-devoting  love,  the  surrender  of  the  will  to  truth 
and  to  God,  is  the  one  thing  acceptable  to  the  Father, 
the  one  thing  by  which  God  and  man  are  brought  into 
harmony.  There  are  in  Christ's  teaching  no  ordinances 


Religion  without  a  Temple.  73 

for  public  worship  ;  the  intimations  of  another  world 
are  few  and  distant.  Even  the  sacraments  are  federal 
acts,  connected  primarily  with  social  life  rather  than 
with  prayer.  To  gather  from  the  gospels  a  system  which 
is  solely  or  chiefly  a  system  of  public  worship,  and  of  in- 
struction concerning  the  life  to  come,  would  be  a  strange 
infatuation.  All  is  directed  to  insure  a  present  life  of 
righteousness  and  of  love,  a  life  lived  in  the  realisation 
of  a  present  God,  whose  kingdom  is  here  within  us. 

And  this  fact  becomes  clearer  to  us  when  we 
consider  our  Lord  as  the  founder  of  a  society. 
The  calling  of  the  twelve  was  not  for  public  wor- 
ship and  for  instruction  in  the  mysteries  of  futurity, 
but  for  the  foundation  of  a  society  which  was  to 
embrace  the  whole  life  of  its  members.  That  their 
first  business  was  to  teach  and  persuade  men  was  a 
matter  of  necessity,  though  with  it,  even  in  their  first 
trial  mission,  healing  and  beneficence  were  conjoined, 
if  they  had  not  even  the  first  place.  And  as  soon  as 
the  society  was  formed,  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost, 
its  adherents  threw  into  it  their  all.  The  community 
of  goods  was  a  witness  that  they  joined  the  Church 
not  for  worship  and  for  instruction  in  relation  to  a 
future  world,  but  for  the  whole  course  of  the  life  now 
present.  All  their  relations  to  their  fellow-men  were  to 
be  Church  relations,  the  arrangements  for  the  serving 
of  tables,  with  all  the  mechanism  which  this  involved 
(the  germ  of  the  life  of  a  perfect  society)  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Apostles.  The  distinction  which  has 
been  so  constantly  and  so  fatally  maintained  between 


74  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life, 

things  sacred  and  things  secular  was  unknown  to  the 
early  Church.  The  life  of  the  Church  was,  as  St.  Paul 
says,  in  God  the  Father  and  His  Son  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Church,  then,  was  to  be  a  society  which  tends 
to  embrace  the  whole  life  of  mankind,  to  bind  all 
their  relations  together  by  a  Divine  sanction.  As 
such  it  blends  naturally  with  the  institutions  of 
common  life — those  institutions  which  because  they 
are  natural  and  necessary  are  therefore  Divine.  It 
asserts  aqd  realises  itself  not  so  much  as  a  separate 
society^  but  rather  in  the  institutions  into  which  it 
infuses  itself.  It  joins  itself  with  the  family,  and  the 
family  itself  becomes,  for  the  time,  the  Church.  It 
may  take  at  another  time  the  form  of  a  sect  of  the 
Jews,  or  of  one  of  the  Hetaeriae  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  But  wherever  it  is  true  to  its  primary 
object  it  presses  on  to  embrace  the  larger  society, 
in  which  the  relations  of  human  life  have  the  fullest 
play  ;  it  becomes  the  soul  of  the  already-existing 
fabric,  and  transforms  it  into  a  Church.  The 
Divine  system  of  human  government,  of  which  St. 
Paul  says  that  its  ministers  are  ministers  of  God, 
can  never  be  outside  of  its  range.  The  Church 
may  for  a  time  be  a  separate  society,  aloof  from 
the  national  life  or  government ;  but  this  is  an 
abnormal  state  of  things,  and  the  effort  of  the 
Church  which  is  true  to  its  Master  must  be  not 
to  maintain  its  separation,  but  to  merge  itself  in  the 
society  which  God  has  made,  and  to  find  itself  again 
in  making  that  society  truly  and  freely  Christian. 


Religion  without  a  TEufPLE.  75 


What  it  aims  at  is  not  the  recognition  by  the  nation 
of  a  worshipping  body,  governed  by  the  ministers  of 
pubHc  worship,  which  calls  itself  the  Church,  but  that 
the  nation  and  all  classes  in  it  should  act  upon 
Christian  principle,  that  laws  should  be  made  in 
Christ's  spirit  of  justice,  that  the  relations  of  the 
powers  of  the  state  should  be  maintained  on  a  basis 
of  Christian  equity,  that  all  public  acts  should  be  done 
in  Christ's  spirit  and  with  mutual  forbearance,  that  the 
spirit  of  Christian  charity  should  be  spread  through 
all  ranks  and  orders  of  the  people.  The  Church  will 
maintain  public  worship  as  one  of  the  greatest  sup- 
ports of  a  Christian  public  life  ;  but  it  will  always 
remember  that  the  true  service,  the  \oyiKr]  Xarpeia  of 
Christians,  is  a  life  of  devotion  to  God  and  man  far 
more  than  the  common  utterance  of  prayer. 

That  this  is  not  generally  felt,  even  in  our  own 
Christian  commonwealth,  although  ev^ery  page  of  our 
public  liturgy  bears  witness  to  the  sacredness  of 
public  life,  must  be  attributed  to  the  insufficient 
scope  which  men  accord  to  the  belief  in  God  and 
in  Redemption.  When  we  believe  that  God  is  the 
common  Father,  and  that  all  men  and  all  things 
which  he  has  made  are  dear  to  Him,  when  we  think 
that  he  is  near  to  every  one  of  us,  and  that  in  Him 
we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being,  then  we  cannot 
count  any  man  or  any  thing  common  or  unclean. 
We  believe  that  there  is  a  Divine  element  in  each 
man  and  each  object,  and  our  constant  effort  must 
be  to  draw  out  this  Divine  element.     And  when 


76  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


we  realise  the  full  scope  of  Redemption  this  truth 
becomes  more  clear  and  more  dear  to  the  believing 
heart.  Christ  is  the  Saviour  of  all  men  ;  Christ  came 
to  redeem  the  world  in  all  its  wide  expanse.  There 
is  nothing  under  the  broad  vault  of  heaven  which  is 
not  included  in  the  all-embracing  purpose  which  is  ex- 
pressed by  St.  Paul  in  these  words,  "  That  He  might 
gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both  which 
.  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  in  earth."  All  societies 
of  men,  all  occupations  of  men,  all  knowledge,  all  art, 
all  the  intercourse  of  men  in  society  or  in  trades,  all 
the  relations  of  nations  one  to  the  other,  are  not  merely 
to  be  influenced  from  without  by  a  body  established 
for  the  purpose  of  public  worship,  but  to  become  func- 
tions of  that  great  body  which  only  in  the  fulness  of 
its  entire  life  is  to  be  the  home  and  the  temple  of  God. 

Towards  this  end  then  we  must  strive.  And  it  is 
an  end  which  is  not  so  distant  or  impossible  as  some 
may  think  it.  There  never  was  a  time  or  a  country 
in  which  it  so  needed  to  be  kept  in  view,  and  in 
which  the  possibilities  of  its  incoming  were  so  great, 
as  the  present  time  and  our  own  country.  If  the  object 
were  confessed  by  the  leaders  of  opinion,  and  set  dis- 
tinctly before  the  nation,  the  very  fact  of  its  recognition 
would  bring  us  half  way  to  its  accomplishment.  It 
may,  no  doubt,  be  said  and  felt  that  it  is  far  too  good 
to  be  true;  men  will  say  that  it  is  impossible  to  attri- 
bute to  ordinary  men  such  faith  as  will  thus  transform 
society.  And  this,  no  doubt,  is  true,  if  we  mean  by 
faith  a  well-considered  adherence  to  every  article  main- 


Religion  without  a  Temple. 


77 


tained  in  Christian  confessions.  But  if  faith  be  a  moral 
conviction,  a  sympathy,  an  aspiration  towards  better 
things,  it  is  not  untrue  to  assert  that  the  general  convic- 
tion is  on  the  Christian  side,and  it  is  not  untrue  to  speak 
of  a  nation  as  Christian.  The  nucleus  by  which  its 
deeper  life  is  led  is  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  Christian 
spirit  even  now.  The  spirit  of  faith  is  alive  and  opera- 
tive, though  it  does  not  find  full  expression  in  words. 

It  might  almost  fill  us  with  despair,  when  we 
recognise  this  as  the  true  vocation  of  the  Christian 
Church,  to  find  those  who  teach  in  our  Christian 
assemblies  so  often  occupied  with  the  inculcation 
merely  of  an  individual  piety,  which  hardly  takes 
account  of  the  social  and  political  Ufe  even  of  indi- 
viduals, and  shrinks  from  public  affairs  as  from  some 
unhallow^ed  thing.  Religion  is  often  praised  for  pro- 
ducing an  unearthly  experience,"  its  effect  is  often 
to  break  up  men's  common  life,  and  to  send  them,  like 
Arthur's  knights,  in  ecstatic  pursuit  of  the  Holy 
Grail,  instead  of  staying  like  valiant  men  to  bring  the 
world  under  the  dominion  of  right ;  and  the  ministers 
of  public  worship  are  often  more  anxious  to  bind  them- 
selves together  as  a  class  and  assert  their  separate  life, 
than  to  serve  the  community  well ;  their  effort  is  often 
to  make  public  worship  a  function  withdrawn  from 
the  life  of  mankind,  rather  than  the  means  of  refresh- 
ing and  elevating  that  life  ;  they  are  often  more 
anxious  to  keep  matters  like  education  in  their  own 
hands,  than  to  strive  that,  in  whosoever's  hands,  it 
should  be  conducted  so  as  to  diffuse  knowledge  and 


78 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


righteousness  among  the  people  ;  the  Church  con- 
stantly means  the  clergy  (as  indeed  it  must  until  it 
identifies  itself  with  the  nation),  and  this  miscon- 
ception makes  the  Church  appear  as  the  enemy  of 
human  progress  and  the  source  instead  of  the  assuager 
of  strife.  These  things  might  fill  us  with  despair, 
but  for  the  certainty  that  the  true  kingdom  of  Christ 
must  come,  and  for  the  evidence  of  its  coming  which 
we  see  both  in  history  and  in  present  society. 

It  was  a  noble  effort  that  was  made  in  the 
Middle  Ages  by  men  like  Hildebrand  to  bring  all 
Christendom  into  harmony.  It  was  a  brave  at- 
tempt and  a  true  foreshadowing  of  that  which  the 
Church  is  designed  to  do.  But  though  the  attempt 
was  a  noble  one,  and  was  motived  by  the  belief 
that  the  clergy  were  capable  of  regenerating  the 
world  if  the  world  were  placed  under  their  dominion, 
it  was  based  on  a  false  calculation.  It  still  kept  life 
divided  into  two  distinct  spheres,  which  were  only 
harmonised  by  the  one  being  absolutely  subject  to  the 
other.  The  clergy  and  the  so-called  spiritual  power 
was  everything.  The  laity  and  the  so-called  temporal 
power  was  nothing.  Moreover,  an  order  separated  by 
celibacy  from  the  general  life  were  altogether  incompe- 
tent to  rule.  The  monastic  ideal  was  quite  inadequate 
to  the  task  of  influencing  and  regenerating  the  general 
life.  And  had  it  been  possible  to  subject  all  the 
powers  of  Christendom  to  the  clergy,  and  had  the 
clergy  been  as  pure  as  they  were  corrupt,  the  result  of 
separating  off  one  power,  one  function,  in  the  Church, 


Religion  without  a  Temple. 


79 


and  making  it  supreme  over  all  the  rest^  would 
merely  have  been  to  emasculate  the  other  powers,  to 
deprive  them  of  their  sense  of  responsibility,  and  to 
substitute  the  false  notions  of  clerical  law  for  the 
demand  for  just  rule  which  was  slowly  beginning  to 
dawn.  The  clergy,  who  rejoiced  to  see  the  head 
of  the  secular  power  humbled  before  the  Pope  at 
Canossa,  had  done  nothing,  when  the  education  of 
the  young  sovereign  had  been  entrusted  to  them,  to 
fortify  him  with  kingly  virtues ;  they  presented  to 
him  the  spectacle  of  worldly  men,  who  used  the 
privileges  which  they  claimed  to  ensure  their  own 
wealth  and  power.  In  the  strife  of  the  clergy  and 
the  kingly  power,  there  was  indeed  but  little  to  make 
impartial  men  take  either  side;  but  the  secular  and 
equal  justice  of  which  the  kings  of  England  and  of 
Germany  were  the  guardians  should  be  quite  as  dear 
to  Christian  hearts  as  the  public  worship  and  monastic 
virtues  maintained  by  a  Hildebrand  or  a  Becket.  To 
call  the  one  temporal  and  the  other  spiritual,  the  one 
Christian,  the  other  worldly,  is  a  mistake,  and  the 
parent  of  a  whole  family  of  mistakes.  For  that  which 
is  Christian  is  simply  that  which  is  just. 

In  the  conflicts  of  the  clergy  against  the  secular 
power  in  the  present  day,  we  find  those  who  have  the 
conduct  of  the  government  waking  up  gradually  to 
the  fact  that  they  have  a  religious  responsibility ; 
that  they,  'and  not  only  the  clergy,  are  ministers  of 
religion.  The  religion  of  justice  in  human  relations 
is  taking  its  place  side  by  side  with  the  religion  of 


8o  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

dogma  and  prayer ;  and  the  task  of  our  age  is  to 
harmonise  them.  Take  such  a  country  as  Italy,  the 
centre  of  the  clerical  system.  The  regeneration  of 
Italy  has  been  accomplished  by  the  devotion  of 
men  like  D'Azeglio  and  Cavour,  Mazzini,  Garibaldi, 
and  Cadorna,  in  the  teeth  of  the  vehement  oppo- 
sition of  the  clergy.  Some  of  these  men  had  the 
deepest  respect  even  for  the  Roman  Catholic  system, 
the  excesses  of  which  they  combated ;  some  of  them 
were  antagonistic  to  that  system.  The  writings 
of  some  of  them,  like  Mazzini,  cannot  be  read 
without  seeing  that  the  fear  of  God  was  para- 
mount with  them.  They  were  supported  in  their 
conflict  with  the  representatives  of  the  clergy  by  a 
religion  as  strong  as  theirs,  the  religion  of  human 
justice.  Liberty  of  worship,  constitutional  govern- 
ment, equality  before  the  law,  the  abolition  of 
shackles  upon  the  press  and  public  meetings,  uni- 
versal education,  the  sanction  of  civil  marriages,  all 
these  form  a  body  of  doctrine  quite  as  clear  to  men's 
minds,  quite  as  Christian,  and  far  more  operative  on 
the  consciences  of  the  mass  of  men,  than  any  which 
they  heard  taught  in  the  churches.  These  formed  a 
real  religion  to  them,  which  has  stood  the  test  of  every 
conflict,  and  has  presented  an  instructive  contrast  to 
the  religion  of  the  clergy.  Read  side  by  side  the 
Syllabus  and  the  Italian  Constitution,  or  compare 
the  utterances  of  Pius  IX.  with  those  of  Italian 
statesmen,  and  you  cannot  doubt  that  the  true  reli- 
gion lies  on  the  side  of  the  latter.    There  is  a  strange 


Religion  without  a  Temple.  Si 

story  of  Garibaldi  being  asked  on  one  occasion  when 
on  a  journey  to  give  his  blessing  to  an  infant  child 
of  an  Itahan  patriot.  He  took  the  child  in  his 
arms,  and  kissed  it,  and  sprinkled  water  upon  it,  and 
said  that  he  baptised  it  into  the  brotherhood  of 
Italian  unity.  That  may  have  struck  some  as  a 
blasphemous  act,  as  a  parody  of  Christianity.  May 
we  not  rather  view  it  as  the  davv-ning  of  a  larger 
and  truer  Christianity — a  Christianity  which  knows 
that  the  brotherhood  of  men  is  as  sacred  as  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  which  esteems  every  act  of 
public  and  private  righteousness  as  an  act  of  reli- 
gion, and,  feels  that  the  ministers  of  human  justice 
and  liberty  are,  as  well  as  the  ministers  of  prayer  and 
preaching,  the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  } 

It  has  been  the  happiness  of  our  own  country  to 
avoid  to  some  extent  the  conflicts  on  these  points 
which  have  been  so  rife  in  Europe.  Yet  there  is  very 
great  fear  lest  through  a  narrow,  unbending  attitude 
on  the  part  of  the  clergy,  a  disastrous  confusion  and 
conflict  may  be  brought  on.  There  has  been  among 
us  a  tendency  to  keep  under  the  control  of  the 
m.inisters  of  public  worship  matters  which  quite  as 
rightly  fall  under  the  control  of  the  ministers  of  civil 
justice.  It  was  quite  right  that  the  clergy  should 
urge  their  flocks  to  undertake  such  works,  nay,  should 
conduct  them  themselves  if  they  were  not  taken  up  by 
others.  But  the  danger  comes  when  the  clergy,  who 
can  carry  on  such  things  at  best  but  imperfectly,  show 
a  jealousy  of  their  being  taken  up  by  others,  and 
F 


82  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

raise  a  cry  that  the  Church  is  in  danger,  and  form  a 
Church  party  to  support  it,  in  opposition  to  that 
which  is  felt  as  a  necessity  by  the  conscience  of  a 
Christian  nation.  What  we  ought  to  do  is  to  strive 
that  the  nation  should  act  in  a  really  Christian  sense. 
As  it  is  we  are  constantly  setting  the  clergy  (or,  as 
men  usually  but  erroneously  speak,  the  Church)  in 
opposition  to  the  nation.  We  are  jealous  of  laws 
being  made  by  the  nation  itself  in  Parliament  for  the 
regulation  of  Church  affairs,  though  these  are  the 
affairs  of  the  whole  nation  ;  we  cannot  endure  the 
making  of  just  laws  concerning  marriage  by  the 
Legislature,  because  they  may  interfere  with  the 
observance  of  certain  ecclesiastical  ideas  about  mar- 
riage. We  are  cold  in  our  appreciation  of  the 
educational  efforts  of  the  last  ten  years,  because  they 
may  detract  from  the  clerical  hold  on  education  in 
the  towns.  And  we  are  unwilling  that  our  Chris- 
tian brethren  who  do  not  worship  with  us  should 
lie  side  by  side  with  our  adherents  in  the  grave."^ 
We  are  jealously  apprehensive  of  popular  movements 
because  they  may  interfere  with  the  privileges  of  the 
clergy  as  a  great  conservative  class.  And  all  this  we 
do  because  we  unduly  magnify  the  ministry  of  public 
worship,  which  we  identify  with  the  Church,  and 
unduly  mistrust  the  Christian  character  of  the  com- 
munity, which  we  thus  in  our  thoughts  treat, 
and  almost  compel  to  become,   unchristian.  The 

*  This  was  preached  some  eighteen  months  before  the  passing  of 
the  Burials  Act. 


Religion  without  a  Temple. 


83 


result  is  that  step  by  step  the  ground  is,  and  justly, 
won  which  we  try  in  vain  to  defend.  The  adminis- 
tration of  the  legal  relief  of  the  poor  has  been 
taken  out  of  clerical  hands,  and  that  of  charitable 
relief  will  very  possibly  leave  them  also.  The 
registrar's  marriage  office  confronts  the  Church, 
and  it  is  very  possible  that  marriage  before  the 
registrar  may  become  compulsory.  Church  schools 
are  rivalled  by  Board  schools,  and  many  good 
judges  believe  that  the  Church  schools  must 
eventually  succumb.  And  all  this  is  done  not  by 
revolutionists,  but  with  full  Christian  conviction 
by  the  great  organs  of  the  national  will.  And 
if  the  still  greater  change  comes  which  has  been 
made  in  Ireland,  and  which  some  believe  to  be 
imminent  in  England,  it  will  be,  let  us  take  good 
heed  to  it,  not  from  any  repudiation  of  Christianity  and 
of  the  Church  by  an  apostate  nation,  nor  because  men 
believe  in  a  separation  of  things  secular  from  things 
sacred  (a  separation  in  the  nature  of  things  impossible, 
and  the  idea  of  which  is  a  heathen  idea  which  Christi- 
anity came  to  dispel),  but  because  the  Christian  nation, 
acting  with  full  conviction  as  a  Church  in  defence  of 
its  Christian  life,  can  no  longer  endure  a  clerical  orga- 
nisation which  has  become  an  unbrotherly  influence 
and  a  perpetual  incentive  to  unchristian  disunion. 

And  while  the  religion  which  finds  its  expression 
only  in  worship  and  in  dogrfias,  and  in  the  hopes  and 
fears  of  futurity,  seems  to  divide  men  hopelessly  from 
each  other,  so  that  the  organisations  formed  for  these 


84  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

purposes  follow  their  own  way  without  regard  to  each 
other,  the  general  interests  of  man's  present  life, 
which,  if  conducted  unselfishly,  are  Christian  and 
eternal  interests,  are  drawing  men  powerfully  into 
union.  The  national  life  in  all  its  branches,  and  the 
blessedness  of  the  brotherhood  which  it  imparts,  the 
pursuit  of  genuine  knowledge,  of  art,  of  invention, 
the  work  of  philanthropy,  are  points  in  which  those 
can  readily  meet  who  are  alienated  by  clerical  dis- 
cord. These  things,  no  doubt,  if  conducted  in  a 
selfish  and  worldly  spirit,  may  become  unchristian  (as 
indeed  the  functions  of  the  clergy  may  also  become)  ; 
but  if  they  are  conducted  in  the  spirit  of  Christian 
justice  and  love  they  are  the  genuine  functions  of  the 
Christian  Church,  genuine  products  of  the  Christian  life. 
In  many  of  them  there  is  little  or  no  controversy  ;  in  all 
of  them  men  can  meet  and  discuss  as  brethren,  main- 
taining a  higher  unity  beyond  all  their  differences;  while 
in  the  realm  administered  by  the  clergy  men  are  almost 
compelled  to  admit  that  theirdifferences  are  irreconcil- 
able, and  that  they  must  keep  each  other  for  ever  apart. 

The  tendency  of  our  argument  may  seem  to  some 
to  be  to  increase  the  antasronism  between  the  two 
spheres,  and  to  raise  up  the  so-called  secular  hfe  at 
the  expense  of  the  so-called  Church  life.  But  this  is 
not  so.  We  wish  to  point  out  the  sacredness  of  that 
which  is  called  the  secular  life,  so  that  the  whole  life 
of  men,  with  all  its  functions,  may  be  brought  under 
the  dominion  of  Christ,  that  there  may  be  no  breach 
between  prayer  and  work,  between  religion  and  know- 


Religion  without  a  Temple. 


8s 


ledge,  between  clergj^  and  laity,  between  Church  and 
State ;  that  the  Fatherhood  of  the  Creator  may  be 
recognised  as  universal  in  the  brotherhood  of  His 
children,  that  the  Redemption  of  Christ  may  be 
acknowledged  as  the  saying  power  in  all  branches 
and  functions  of  human  energ\\  ^Moreover,  I  am 
persuaded  that,  if  this  be  once  acknowledged  to  the 
full,  the  resuit  of  it  will  be,  not  an  undervaluing  of 
the  work  which  is  the  special  function  of  the  clergy, 
but  a  fuller  recognition  of  its  importance.  Those 
who  work  side  by  side  with  the  same  motives  in 
matters  of  philanthropy  or  politics,  acknowledging 
the  supremacy  of  our  Lord,  will  not  be  content 
without  worshipping  together.  Those  who  acknow- 
ledge that  the  sanction  which  makes  their  work  a 
noble  service  is  the  belief  in  God,  will  want  to  hear 
more  about  God,  and  will  return  to  theolog\^  and  its 
teachings  with  a  new  zest.  Those  who  are  constantly 
dealing  with  the  mysteries  of  human  life,  with  a  view 
to  gain  fresh  knowledge  and  to  elevate  mankind,  will 
not  be  content  to  be  stopped  by  the  barriers  of  sense 
and  time,  but  will  long  and  aspire  together  to  the 
eternal  world  and  to  the  life  to  come.  It  is  not  to 
plead  the  cause  of  knowledge  or  secular  politics 
against  piety  that  we  preach,  but  to  embrace  in  the 
circle  of  piety  the  whole  life  of  man. 

I  therefore,  in  conclusion,  make  an  appeal :  ist 
to  the  clergy  ;  2nd,  to  the  laity. 

I.  I  entreat  the  clergy  not  to  make  their  minis- 
trations exclusive,  and  this  in  two  senses,  both  as 


86  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

regards  the  Christian  bodies  outside  their  own  orga- 
nisation, and  as  regards  the  laity  generally.  I  do 
not  enter  into  the  differences  between  Christians,  but 
I  am  quite  sure  that  they  are  greatly  exaggerated. 
I  believe  that  Christian  hearts,  if  they  only  knew 
more  of  each  other,  would  beat  more  in  unison.  If 
the  great  needs  of  our  people  are  considered,  we  can 
rejoice  in  the  good  done  by  others  than  ourselves, 
and  we  can  learn  to  honour  men  according  to  the 
real  amount  of  Christian  good  which  they  accomplish. 
And  all  that  this  implies  is  that  we  should  cease  from 
the  attitude  of  supercilious  ignorance  which  we  are 
apt  to  assume  towards  them,  and  should  recognise 
and  take  an  interest  in  their  good  works.  Look  not 
every  man  on  his  own  things,  but  every  man  also  on 
the  things  of  others.  And,  as  to  the  laity,  let  us 
learn  to  think  of  them  as  having  each  a  ministry  to 
fulfil,  according  to  the  words  of  one  of  our  prayers, 
That  every  member  of  the  whole  body  of  the 
Church  in  his  vocation  and  ministry  may  truly  and 
godly  serve  the  Lord."  Let  us  give  up  utterly  the 
separation  of  things  sacred  and  things  secular.  Let 
our  great  aim  be  to  stimulate  knowledge  and  art  and 
political  good,  and  all  the  culture  which  ennobles 
human  life,  to  urge  upon  all  men  to  conduct  their 
common  work  as  a  function  of  the  Church  of  God, 
to  bring  the  great  sanctions  of  the  invisible  world  to 
bear  upon  the  elevation  of  mankind. 

2.  I  urge  this  also  on  the  laity  with  all  earnest- 
ness.    It  would  be  impossible  at  the  close  of  a 


Religion  without  a  Temple.  87 

sermon  to  show  in  detail  the  application  of  our 
principles  to  the  various  branches  of  secular  life. 
But  a  few  words  may  be  said  as  to  the  actual 
business  of  this  University.  It  is  said  that  the 
changes  of  late  }'ears  have  made  the  teaching-staff 
less  clerical  and  the  whole  atmosphere  less  theolo- 
gical. It  does  not  follow,  I  trust,  that  Oxford  is  less 
a  place  of  religious  education.  Men  are  no  longer 
kept  under  the  restraint  of  a  clerical  system  which 
permitted  only  such  a  course  of  study  as  seemed 
consonant  with  its  own  interests.  But  if,  as  testi- 
mony seems  to  show,  those  who  study  here  do  so 
more  diligently,  if  truth  comes  with  freedom,  if 
mutual  toleration  ensues  on  a  frank  recognition  of 
differences,  the  University  is  not  less  but  more  a 
place  of  Christian  learning.  It  is  not  so  much  the 
subject  of  study  as  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  pursued 
that  makes  it  Christian  or  un-Christian.  This  is  the 
crucial  question.  About  this,  I  pray  you,  let  there 
be  no  hesitation.  Let  those  who  follow  research  do 
so  with  truth  for  their  aim,  and  with  such  a  regard 
for  their  fellows  as  will  make  them  give  out  freely 
the  results  of  their  research ;  then,  but  not  other- 
wise, their  study  will  be  Christian  study.  Let  those 
who  teach  make  it  their  object  to  perfect  themselv-es 
in  an  art  for  which  no  previous  training  is  provided, 
and  which  is  often  very  imperfectly  acquired  by 
practice,  and  let  them  show  by  many  kindly  offices 
their  interest  in  the  welfare  of  those  they  teach — so 
alone  will  they  be  Christian  teachers.    Let  those  who 


,88  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

are  learning  be  really  in  earnest  to  acquire  knowledge, 
and  to  fit  themselves  for  their  future  career,  and  be 
careful  in  their  conduct  and  example.  These  things 
will  render  the  teachers  and  students  of  this  Univer- 
sity, though  there  may  be  among  them  fewer  minis- 
ters of  worship  than  of  old,  real  ministers  of  Christ 
to  pupils  or  to  comrades  on  whose  welfare  they  have 
an  influence.  And  if  at  the  present  it  is  found  that 
some  ordinances  of  religion,  like  the  daily  prayer  in 
chapel,  are  less  largely  frequented  than  when  they 
were  compulsory,  let  me  urge  that  there  is  a  compen- 
satory service  which  all  can  render  in  the  maintenance 
of  a  high  sense  of  duty,  in  fostering  the  inner  life  in  a 
religious  spirit,  in  mutual  care  and  interest.  And  let 
the  hope  be  maintained  that,  if  the  common  worship 
of  God  endures  some  suspension  for  a  time,  it  may 
be  for  a  time  only.  It  cannot  be  but  that,  in  the 
freedom  of  study  and  discussion,  many  divergent  ideas 
should  arise  about  those  things  which,  precious  as 
they  are,  must  ever  seem  subject  to  much  uncertainty, 
and  which  are  the  object  of  faith  and  hope  rather 
than  of  exact  knowledge.  But  do  not  carry  these 
divergencies  on  one  side  or  the  other  so  far  as  to 
hinder  sympathy  and  co-operation  in  your  proper 
work.  Let  the  sympathy  you  have  in  one  of  the 
noblest  of  human  employments  draw  you  together 
into  common  hopes,  common  aspirations  ;  and  we 
may  yet  see  here  a  better  society  than  that  which  the 
religion  of  worship  alone  would  give,  the  society  of  a 
life  lived  out  under  the  spiritual  dominion  of  Christ. 


III. 


€l)t  ^upremnrp  ot  Cftifet  ober  tin 


III. 


{Preached  before  the  University  of  Oxford^  April  27,  1879.) 

"Thou  sayest  that  I  am  a  King." — ^John  xviii.  36. 
"All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  in  earth." — 
Matthew  xxviii.  18. 


It  has  been  sometimes  said  of  late  years  that  Chris- 
tianity has  resigned  the  leadership  of  the  world,  and 
that  the  friends  of  humanity  must  now  step  in  to  act 
as  a  natural  Providence  and  conduct  the  affairs  of  the 
race.  There  is  some  truth  in  the  complaint,  whatever 
we  may  think  of  the  proposed  remedy.  For  there 
has  been  at  all  times  a  tendency  among  Christians  to 
abandon  the  claim  of  universal  sovereignty  which 
was  at  first  made  in  the  name  of  their  Lord.  The 
claim  may  be  made  in  words,  but  left  in  a  purely 
ideal  state ;  and  when  no  attempt  is  made  to  give 
it  a  practical  application,  it  is  in  effect  abandoned. 
A  Christianity  which  embraces  but  a  part  of  human 
life,  while  it  adjourns  its  fuller  claim  to  the  world 
beyond  the  grave,  is  certainly  not  the  religion  of 
One  who  says,  "All  power  is  given  unto  me  in 
heaven  and  in  earth." 

Jesus  Christ  is  all  in  all.     His  followers  cannot 


92  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

be  content  to  claim  for  Him  anything  less  than 
sovereignty.  We  may  dispute  about  the  precise 
mode  in  which  that  sovereignty  is  to  be  expressed, 
and  may  not  be  content  with  the  theological  terms  in 
which  past  ages  have  defined  it.  We  may  admit  that 
those  who  have  sought  to  enforce  this  sovereignty  as 
a  practical  thing  at  various  times  have  failed.  But 
the  failure  has  been  due  to  the  mistakes  of  later 
times,  not  to  the  falsehood  of  the  original  claim. 
Such  failures  cannot  destroy  the  truth  of  the  claim,  or 
its  practical  character.  Christ  is  still  the  Son  of  God, 
and  the  true  King  of  mankind,  and  of  the  universe. 
For  us,  as  for  St.  Paul,  "though  there  be  gods  many, 
and  lords  many,  there  is  but  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
by  whom  are  all  things,  and  we  by  Him." 

The  end  towards  which  we  look  is  not  that  all 
men  should  be  bound  to  certain  rules  of  life,  nor  that 
they  should  all  be  alike  in  the  public  worship  of  God, 
nor  that  the  anticipation  of  the  world  to  come  should 
overpower  the  duties  and  interests  of  the  present ;  but 
that  all  human  life  should  be  lived  out  under  the 
dominion  of  Christ.  This^  which  has  sometimes  been 
confessed  in  words^  has  rarely  been  steadily  contem- 
plated in  fact  The  dominion  of  Christ  has  been 
looked  upon  as  if  it  were  like  the  rule  of  an  earthly 
king,  who  guides  the  outer  life,  but  cannot  reach  the 
inner ;  or,  again,  by  a  revulsion  to  the  opposite 
extreme,  as  if  it  were  merely  a  spirit  or  sentiment 
which  hardly  cares  for  the  body  or  the  general  life. 
And  as  to  the  means  by  which  it  is  to  be  enforced, 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ, 


93 


men  have  varied  from  the  advocacy  of  stern  com- 
pulsion to  that  of  simple  persuasion.  But,  in  truth, 
the  design  of  Christianity  is  this,  that  human  life 
should  be  lived  out  with  perfect  freedom,  but  under 
the  empire  of  the  master  motive  of  love,  in  the  fear  of 
God,  in  the  belief  of  His  fatherly  redeeming  mercy. 
And  the  means  by  which  this  is  to  be  attained 
embrace  all  the  methods  by  which  human  life  is 
conducted.  The  spirit  of  the  Gospel  sets  free  all  the 
faculties,  it  inspires  them  with  the  energy  of  love; 
and  it  accepts  all  the  means  which  the  free  life  of 
mankind  invents  for  reaching  that  development.  So 
far  as  man  is  an  individual,  so  far  Christianity  is  an 
individual  influence.  So  far  as  man  is  a  social  being, 
Christianity  is  social.  If  man  requires  laws,  the 
Christian  spirit  can  enter  with  those  laws.  If  there 
are  parts  of  human  life  which  must  always  lie  beyond 
the  reach  of  law,  Christianity  vindicates  that  exemp- 
tion from  law,  and  furnishes  men  with  a  stimulus  and 
safeguard  from  a  higher  source  than  that  of  law.  If 
it  be  true  that  man  is  utilitarian,  w^hat  is  this  but  that 
the  Father  of  Jesus  Christ  wishes  all  his  children  to 
aim  at  each  other's  happiness }  If  idealism  has  a 
place,  as  it  must  have,  even  in  the  most  utilitarian 
system,  does  not  a  follower  of  Christ  hear  the  voice 
of  his  Lord  saying  to  him  constantly,  "  I  came  to 
bear  witness  to  truth  ;  he  that  is  of  truth  heareth  my 
voice;"  or,  again,  *'Be  perfect  as  your  Father  in 
heaven  is  perfect ;"  or,  again,  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of 
this  world." 


94 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


It  has  been  maintained  at  times  that  Christianity 
is  concerned  with  conduct,  and  conduct  only,  and  its 
vindication  has  been  rested  by  a  writer  of  striking 
originaHty  on  the  ground  that  conduct  is  three-fourths 
or  perhaps  seven-eighths  of  human  hfe.  But  do  we 
pass  out  from  the  Divine  influence  of  our  Lord,  when 
we  come  to  the  other  fourth  or  eighth  part,  when  we 
,  go  beyond  the  limits  of  the  serious  and  moral  view  of 
life  ?  In  the  realms  of  art  or  of  music,  which  are  so 
restful  to  the  human  spirit,  has  Christ  nothing  to  say 
to  us  ?  In  purely  literary  pursuits,  or  those  of  ab- 
stract science,  does  the  human  spirit  range  apart  from 
His  ?  In  recreation  and  in  mirth  are  we  no  longer 
His  disciples  ?  Is  the  only  question  to  be  asked  as 
to  any  course  of  action,  how  does  this  bear  on  the 
regulation  of  conduct  ?  Or  if  we  get  beyond  that 
question,  are  we  wandering  without  a  guide  ?  If  that 
were  so,  I  cannot  see  how  religion  should  be  the  supreme 
power  of  life,  or  Christ  its  King.  There  would  be  a 
double  spirit,  or  indeed  many  spirits,  at  work  within 
us.  We  should  have  to  make  a  distinction  between 
Christ  and  the  Father,  as  Goethe  did  when  he  made 
Werther  say,  Perhaps  I  am  not  one  of  those  whom 
the  Father  has  given  to  Christ,  but  one  of  those  whom 
the  Father  has  kept  for  Himself;"  or  we  should  have 
to  divide  ourselves  between  God  and  no  God,  to  con- 
secrate parts  of  our  time  and  our  faculties  as  Theistic, 
and  acknowledge  the  rest  as  Atheistic.  Can  human 
life  be  thus  bisected  } 

We  want  a  larger  definition  of  faith,  and  a  larger 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ. 


95 


conception  of  the  spirit  of  Christ.  If  faith  be  the 
acceptance  of  statements  about  God  and  Christ  and 
the  future  Hfe,  it  is  true  that  it  cannot  be  universal. 
But  if  it  be,  as  I  have  maintained  on  former  occasions, 
a  trust  in  the  Father  of  whom  Christ  is  the  image,  a 
sympathy  with  goodness,  an  aspiration  towards  the 
blessed  life,  such  a  faith  as  this  can  enter  into  every 
part  of  the  soul,  like  the  air  which  pervades  the  whole 
surface  of  the  globe,  aaid  gives  life  to  all  that  breathes 
and  grows  upon  it. 

I  desire  to  show  that  Christ's  spirit  is  the  true 
guiding  power  in  all  spheres  of  human  activity  ;  that 
it  is  not  only  an  inspiring  motive,  but  also  suggests 
the  right  end  to  aim  at.  It  must  be  so  if  we  believe 
in  a  redemption  for  humanity ;  for  that  redemption 
points  to  and  ensures  a  blessed  state,  a  holy  city,  a 
divine  society,  in  which  God  shall  dwell  with  men. 
In  that  state  can  we  suppose  that  anything  which  is 
good  can  be  left  out  Has  the  New  Jerusalem 
neither  statues,  nor  pictures,  nor  stately  architecture, 
nor  dramas,  nor  games }  Is  it  to  be,  as  Isl.  Renan 
says  of  the  New  Jerusalem  of  the  Revelation,  a  gaudy 
and  tasteless  toy  }  Or,  as  might  appear  from  some 
religious  ideals,  are  its  boys  and  girls  to  laugh  no 
more,  or  its  citizens  to  exercise  their  minds  in  no 
problems  but  those  of  morals  and  sociology  }  If  such 
suppositions  are  impossible,  then  all  who  look  for  a 
complete  redemption  must  seek  to  realise  the  Divine 
influence  in  all  parts  of  life,  whether  grave  or  gay, 
whether  so-called  secular  or   sacred.     They  must 


96 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


begin  here,  and  now,  to  build  up  the  fabric  of  a 
blessed  life,  which  comprehends  the  whole  organi- 
sation of  a  perfect  society,  ruled  by  Christ's  justice, 
and  inspired  by  His  love. 

It  will  be  best,  for  the  purposes  of  this  sermon,  to 
show  how  this  is  to  be  worked  out  in  detail  in  those, 
spheres  of  life  which  are  supposed  to  have  least 
connection  with  religion.  I  will  take  several  of  these 
and  point  out,  not  mere^.y  how  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
may  connect  itself  with  them,  but  how  it  suggests  the 
object  to  be  aimed  at,  and  presides  over  the  method 
of  reaching  it. 

I.  Here  in  Oxford  let  me  begin  with  education. 
And  this  is  especially  appropriate,  because  the 
divorce  of  religion  and  education  is  loudly  proclaimed 
in  certain  quarters,  after  a  long  and  not  inharmonious 
marriage.  "  The  school  for  the  state,  and  the  Church 
for  God,"  is  the  specious  but  misleading  formula  in 

"  which  this  divorce  has  been  expressed.  What  is 
really  meant  by  this  is  that  the  ministers  of  public 
worship  are  no  longer  to  control  education.  But  is 
there  anything  in  the  Christian  religion  which  makes 
it  necessary  that  the  ministers  of  public  worship 
should  control  either  teaching  or  research }    Is  it  not 

'  much  truer  to  say  that  public  worship  is  one  function 
or  ministry,  and  the  training  of  youth  is  another.-* 
Is  it  not  a  wider  and  juster  view  of  the  Church, 
which  embraces  the  several  ministries  as  several,  than 
that  which  would  subject  all  its  divers  functions  to  a 
single  order  t    Let  education,  if  so  it  be  found  con- 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ. 


97 


venient^  be  conducted  without  clerical  supervision  ; 
absolutely  so  if  necessary.  In  what  way  does  that 
expel  Christ  and  His  Spirit  from  it  ?  May  there  not 
be  real  conscientious  religion  in  a  lay  teacher  ?  Even 
if  the  teaching  of  Scripture  and  the  use  of  prayers 
were  made  impossible  by  our  unfortunate  differences, 
that  would  not  make  the  education  unchristian.  The 
care  of  teachers  for  pupils,  the  reverence  of  pupils  for 
teachers,  the  common  sense  of  duty,  and  the  sympathy 
which  is  engendered  by  a  common  work — this  is  the 
religion  of  education.  I  know  not  what  Christianity 
demands  more  than  this.  Even  where,  as  in  America, 
the  almost  total  exclusion  of  direct  religious  teaching 
from  the  schools  has  been  attempted,  it  is  found  that 
the  spirit  of  a  Christian  teacher  communicates  itself 
irresistibly  to  the  pupils,  and  that,  even  as  to  religious 
observances  which  go  on  outside  the  schools,  the 
pupils  very  commonly  follow  their  teacher.  But  in 
our  country  there  is  no  reason  why  direct  Christian' 
teaching  should  be  excluded.  If  the  spirit  of  Christian' 
liberality  prevails  to  abate  our  differences,  all  that  is 
essential  in  the  way  of  Christian  knowledge  can  be 
communicated  to  the  mass*  of  the  pupils.  Nor  is 
there  any  reason  why  the  ministers  of  public  worship 
should  not  bear  in  this  a  conspicuous  and  fruitful 
part.  But  this  the  spirit  of  Christ  demands,  that 
truth,  unfettered  by  prejudices,  whether  of  the  clergy 
or  of  any  other  class,  preside  over  the  whole  process. 

Does  the  freedom  of  truth  and  of  love,  then,  mean 
that  there  is  to  be  no  system,  no  guidance  ?  Is 
G 


98 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


education  and  research  to  go  on  by  desultory,  spas- 
modic, arbitrary  impulses  ?  By  no  means.  Chris- 
tianity is  a  cosmic  as  well  as  a  spiritual  faith.  It  has 
to  do  with  the  universe  as  well  as  the  human  spirit. 
The  power  of  its  Lord  is  over  all  in  heaven  and  earth. 
The  sense  of  harmony  which  love  produces  extends 
itself  over  the  whole  creation.  The  Christian  Scrip- 
tures throughout  place  man  as  the  spiritual  centre  of 
a  world  in  which  all  things  find  their  place  in  subor- 
dination to  him.  Christ  is  the  centre  of  mankind, 
and  mankind  is  the  centre  of  the  world.  If  that  be 
so,  w^e  have  a  central  point  round  which  all  knowledge 
groups  itself.  The  physical  and  the  moral  sciences 
have  each  their  part  in  the  building  up  of  the  great 
human  temple  in  which  God  dwells  ;  and  the  highest 
education  is  that  which  gives  men  a  complete  con- 
ception of  the  world  thus  viewed,  as  centred  in 
humanity  and  in  Christ,  its  head.  Or  if  this  be  taken 
'  on  the  practical  side,  the  true  education  is  that  which 
fits  a  man  to  bear  his  part  aright  among  his  fellow- 
men,  in  the  society  of  which  the  central  principle  is 
love,  and  which  acknowledges  Christ  as  the  supreme 
expression  of  that  love*.  Thus  the  spirit  of  Christ 
asserts  itself  as  the  master  power  in  the  sphere  of 
education. 

2.  Let  us  pass  to  a  sphere  which  is  commonly 
dealt  with  as  being  far  removed  from  directly 
Christian  influences,  and  which  is  hardly  touched  by 
ordinary  Christian  teaching.  I  mean  the  sphere  of 
trade.    It  is  said  by  those  who  speculate  upon  the 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ. 


99 


future,  that  commerce,  which  already  is  so  absorbing 
a  pursuit,  is  destined  to  grow  to  far  larger  dimensions. 
And  this  can  hardly  fail  to  be  the  case  in  England, 
whether  England  or  America  bear  the  palm  of  the 
trade  of  the  future.  It  is  commonly  and  thought- 
lessly assumed  that  men  sell  to  make  their  fortunes, 
and  buy  to  feed  and  clothe  themselves.  Is  that  a 
true  and  sufficient  account  of  dealings  which  occupy 
a  large  part  of  every  life  ?  Even  so,  the  question  is 
whether  this  is  done  honestly.  And  it  is  pretty 
certain  that  if  there  be  no  motive  at  work  but  the 
pursuit  of  our  own  convenience  on  one  side,  and  of  gain 
on  the  other,  convenience  and  gain  will  be  degraded  into 
greed  and  dishonesty.  You  want  a  constant  motive 
to  raise  trade  from  mere  chaffering  into  dignity,  and 
this  motive  Christianity  supplies.  It  is  evident  that 
trade  cannot  exist  without  fair  dealing.  But  where 
there  is  fair  dealing  there  is  room  for  love  ;  and  if  so 
there  ought  to  be  love.  Here  then  is  an  entrance  for 
the  Christian  spirit  into  the  whole  system  of  commer- 
cial exchanges  ;  and  where  the  Christian  spirit  enters 
it  at  once  asserts  its  supremacy.  The  higher  motive 
drives  out  the  lower  ;  what  you  are  doing  for  love  you 
can  do  no  longer  merely  for  gain. 

The  ideal  to  which  this  motive  points  is  this  :  that 
the  trader  should  have  for  his  first  object  to  supply 
the  wants  of  those  about  him,  and  should  follow  this 
out,  not  merely  so  far  as  it  will  bring  him  gain,  but 
to  the  full  extent  of  his  ability.  Does  this  sound 
Utopian.'^  Is  it  certain  that  a  man  who  should  do 
G  2 


loo         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

this  would  be  ruined  ?  On  the  contrary,  everything 
tends  to  show  that  one  who  should  set  to  work  in  this 
way  would  conciliate  the  confidence  and  support  of 
all  men  ;  for  if  it  were  once  known  that  this  was  his 
object,  who  would  not  rather  deal  with  him  than  with 
any  other  ?  Nor  is  this  mere  speculation.  The  new 
system  of  co-operative  trading,  which  is  known  to  be 
in  the  interest  of  those  who  buy^  not  merely  in  that 
of  those  who  sell,  even  when  carried  out  to  the  very 
limited  extent  of  plain  honesty  guaranteed  by  imme- 
diate payment,  is  threatening  all  trade  which  is 
carried  on  on  other  systems,  and  where  it  goes 
further,  and  gives  an  interest  to  the  buyer  in  all 
that  he  purchases,  it  must  of  necessity  carry  ail 
before  it.  The  greatest  retail  establishment  which 
the  world  has  ever  seen — the  great  store  in  New 
York,  the  proprietor  of  which  died  some  two  years 
ago — was  founded  on  this  principle,  to  give  to  the 
public  none  but  the  best  articles,  and  to  give  them 
at  the  lowest  rate  which  would  ensure  the  carrying  on 
of  the  business.  He  who  wrought  upon  this  principle, 
so  far  from  being  ruined,  made  the  largest  fortune 
ever  realised  by  a  retail  trader.  So  literally  true  is 
the  saying  of  Christ,  "  With  what  measure  ye  mete 
withal,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again." 

And  if  we  follow  out  this  thought,  it  leads  us 
beyond  what  is  possible  now  to  that  which  may 
become  possible  if  the  Christian  spirit  can  fully 
assert  itself.  The  brotherly  spirit  of  the  Gospel 
must  favour  the  extension  of  co-operation,  whether 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ. 


lOI 


in  the  production  or  the  distribution  of  goods.  And 
beyond  this,  perhaps,  there  will  dimly  dawn  upon 
our  view  a  state  of  things  in  which  the  Christian 
community  itself  should  minister  to  all  the  wants 
of  all  its  members,  in  which  love  and  energy, 
with  a  moderate  assured  remuneration,  might  supply 
the  motive  power  which  is  now  supplied  by  eager 
competition  and  the  prospect  of  excessive  gain. 
It  is  a  dream^  no  doubt,  but  only  such  a  dream  as 
it  might  have  been  to  past  generations,  that  the 
community  might  one  day  carry  its  own  letters,  or 
transmit  its  own  messages,  or  lay  up  the  savings  or 
conduct  the  insurances  of  its  poorer  members,  or  that 
there  might  be  a  scheme,  regarded  by  many  with 
favour,  by  which  all  the  great  iron  roads  might  be 
possessed  by  the  community  for  the  advantage  of  the 
citizens.  To  act  upon  such  a  dream  or  anything  like 
it  as  if  the  Christian  spirit  were  strong  enough  now 
to  realise  it  would  be  madness.  To  attempt  to 
enforce  it,  as  Socialists  have  attempted  to  enforce 
their  schemes,  would  be  not  folly  only,  but  tyranny. 
But  to  work  towards  it  by  infusing  into  all  trade  the 
spirit  of  beneficence  and  mutual  confidence,  of  trust- 
fulness and  of  unselfish  generosity,  is  to  prepare  the 
way  of  Christ  in  one  vast  and  growing  province  of 
His  dominion. 

3.  I  come  now  to  another  field,  that  of  literature. 
With  this  too  it  is  often  thought  that  Christ  has  no 
connection.  There  may  be  literature  which  is  about 
Christ,  it  is  thought,  but  the  literature  itself,  the  form, 


I02         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

the  art  of  it,  has  nothing  to  do  with  Christ.  And  the 
genuine  Hterary  man  lives  in  the  form  itself :  his 
pabulum  is  not  the  substance  but  the  form  in  which 
it  is  clothed. 

But  is  it  possible  to  make  this  absolute  severance 
between  matter  and  form  ?  May  it  not  rather  be  said 
that,  apart  from  the  matter,  the  form  cannot  maintain 
its  worth  }  It  was  a  great  truth  which  was  touched 
by  Schleiermacher  when  he  spoke  of  the  language- 
forming  power  of  Christianity.  The  Gospels  (to  take 
the  first  and  most  central  instance),  have  a  great  lite- 
rary charm  in  their  simplicity,  in  their  freshness  and 
naivete.  But  who  can  say  that  their  form  is  indepen- 
dent of  their  subject  matter.?  Much  more  truly  we 
may  say  that  it  is  the  fact  that  the  writers  were 
dealing  with  a  subject  so  divine  and  yet  so  simple 
that  gives  the  divine  simplicity  to  their  form.  The 
spirit  of  Christ  is  in  the  form  as  well  as  the  matter, 
in  the  grace,  in  the  chasteness,  in  the  reticence,  in  the 
short  uninvolved  sentences  like  those  of  a  child,  in  the 
naturalness  and  directness  of  the  style.  This  is  con- 
fessed by  writers  like  M.  Renan — no  mean  judge, 
assuredly,  of  literary  style,  who  turns  with  delight  to 
the  synoptic  gospels  as  breathing  the  fresh  air  of  the 
Galilean  hills,  and  who  similarly  compares  the  im- 
pression which  we  receive  in  reading  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  to  that  which  we  gain  in  reading  the 
Odyssey. 

It  is  not  so  always,  no  doubt  ;  there  may  be  a 
grace  which  has  lost  all  hold  of  reality.    It  is  like  the 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ.  103 

resemblance  we  sometimes  trace  in  the  outward  form 
and  manners  of  the  degenerate  child  to  those  of  his 
nobler  parents,  or  like  gracious  words  and  outward 
courtesy  covering  a  bad  heart.  This  does  not  dis- 
prove the  truth  that  qualities  are  transmitted  by  race, 
or  that  it  is  a  loving  heart  that  is  the  true  parent  of 
courtesy.  And,  similarly,  it  is  the  love  which  is  the 
nature  of  God  and  of  Christ  which  in  one  or  other 
of  its  forms  is  the  true  inspirer  of  literature.  No 
genuine  or  original  style  has  ever  been  formed  where 
there  was  no  deep  human  sympathy,  but  only  a 
playing  with  words. 

Moreover,  literature,  what  is.  it  }  It  is  a  form  of 
expression.  Not  only  is  expression  dependent  on  the 
thing  to  be  expressed,  but  the  wish  to  express  is  the 
correlative  of  the  wish  to  impress.  We  want  to 
express  our  thoughts  in  writing  as  in  speech,  in  order 
that  they  may  reach  home  to  other  minds,  that  they 
may  evoke  sympathy,  and  inspire  noble  thoughts,  and 
incite  to  generous  action.  This  has  been  the  kindling 
spark  of  all  the  highest  literary  genius. 

We  may  raise  the  matter  to  a  higher  point.  If  all 
human  nature  is  redeemed  by  Christ,  then  every 
human  excellence  is  part  of  the  process.  The  very 
fact  that  literature  is  part  of  this  excellence  in  itself 
makes  it  Christian.  Aim  at  excellence,  and  you  are 
aiming  at  what  Christ  designed.  If  this  is  true  any- 
where, it  must  be  doubly  true  where  we  are  dealing 
with  human  speech,  the  organ  of  the  human  spirit, 
through  which  the  divine  breath  breathes  out  upon 


I04         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

mankind.  Get  rid  of  the  idea  that  secular  literature 
is  to  be  enslaved  to  ecclesiasticism,  and  you  have  no 
difficulty  in  accepting  for  it  the  sovereignty  of  Christ. 
The  word  of  man  cannot  but  be  under  the  control 
and  subject  to  the  inspiring,  redeeming  influence  of 
Him  who,  because  his  human  life  expressed  the  divine, 
is  called  the  Word  of  God. 

4.  We  may  extend  this  thought  to  the  whole 
province  of  art.  Who  can  maintain  that  art  is  not  a 
necessary  part  of  human  excellence  }  Would  any  one 
be  so  mad  as  to  wish  to  banish  it,  as  Plato  banished 
the  poets  from  his  republic  If  art  is  imitative,  it  is 
because  man  is  an  imitative  being,  and  redemption 
must  redeem  this  quality  of  imitativeness,  not  destroy 
it.  It  may  be  the  shadow  of  a  shadow  of  the  true 
idea.  But,  nevertheless,  the  true  idea  stands  out 
much  more  clearly  to  the  apprehension  of  men 
through  the  medium  of  this  shadow  than  it  would  if 
we  saw  the  reality  in  its  nakedness.  Truth  barely 
stated  is  apt  to  become  truism.  The  bare  light 
dazzles  and  kills ;  its  refraction  and  disintegration 
show  it  in  its  true  and  enlightening  glory.  Even  the 
most  direct  teaching  needs  some  medium  of  metaphor. 
Our  Lord  Himself  used  parables.  And  so  it  is  with 
all  the  arts,  with  architecture,  and  sculpture,  and 
painting,  with  music  or  the  drama.  They  partake  of 
the  nature  of  sacraments ;  the  inward  spiritual  grace 
which  they  express  is  hidden  and  yet  revealed  by 
them.  The  circuit  of  the  electric  chain  is  long,  but  the 
spark  is  none  the  less  vivid,  none  the  less  quickening. 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ.  105 

Art  needs  reality  at  every  turn.  Divorce  it  from 
real  life  and  it  becomes  but  the  bloom  of  decay.  It 
is  quite  possible,  no  doubt,  that  there  may  be  ages 
that  are  very  real,  and  yet  are  without  art  ;  for  art  is 
an  excellence,  a  virtue,  which  seems  to  need  special 
conditions,  and  these  conditions  are  not  always  at 
hand.  But  if  in  some  of  the  noblest  art  periods  you 
have  the  germs  of  decay,  which  are  developed  in  the 
succeeding  age,  what  does  that  prove  but  that  the 
reality  which  inspired  the  one  was  wanting  to  the 
other,  and  that  as  with  an  effete  civflisation  which 
needs  re-invigorating  through  a  process  of  revolution, 
a  new  departure  must  be  taken  by  a  new  recourse  to 
reality } 

Art  gives  rest  to  the  soul.  Does  that  make  it  less 
Christian  }  Because  we  seem  to  be  drawn  away, 
among  nymphs  or  landscapes,  or  the  spectacle  of 
men  of  other  climes  and  ages,  from  the  crushing 
sense  of  our  responsibility,  are  we  therefore  outside 
the  sphere  of  His  influence  who  said  Come  unto  me 
and  I  will  give  you  rest  1 "  could  it  be  said  that 
recreation  was  no  part  of  even  the  most  saintly  life  ? 
And  if  sainthness  needs  refreshment^  humanity  in  all 
its  parts  needs  art.  It  is  quite  impossible  that  this 
element  of  life  can  be  out  of  the  range  of  the 
Redeemer  of  mankind.  And  if  the  times  in  which 
art  has  been  most  highly  developed  have  not  been 
those  in  which  Christianity  has  seemed  most  flourish- 
ing, the  cause  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  swaying  to 
and  fro  which  marks  the  progress  of  humanity.  Take 


io6         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

for  instance  the  period  of  the  Renaissance.  What  is 
it  but  a  revolt  against  the  exclusiveness  of  ecclesiasti- 
cism  ?  We  cannot  look  with  much  satisfaction  on  an 
age  of  moral  unsettlement  such  as  the  Renaissance 
undoubtedly  was.  But  Christian  thought  ranges  over 
long  periods,  and  awaits  a  full  development  in  which 
the  various  elements  of  the  complete  excellence  may 
be  combined  ;  and  it  is  therefore  prepared  to  see 
without  complaint  periods  like  the  Renaissance  or 
the  eighteenth  century  which  bring  an  infusion  of  a 
wholesome  naturalism  into  the  life  which  has  been 
surcharged  with  elements  like  scholasticism,  or  the 
excess  of  ecclesiastical  ritual  and  dogma. 

And  Christianity,  even  in  its  stricter  and  more 
limited  aspect,  constantly  shows  itself  as  the  redeemer 
of  art.  By  suggesting  high  aims,  by  presenting  worthy 
characters  and  moving  incidents,  it  draws  out  the 
nobler  side  of  art,  and  prevents  it  from  being 
degraded  by  sensualism  and  frivolity.  Art,  like 
every  other  sphere  of  human  life,  must  recognise  the 
great  moral  factors  which  in  all  departments  are 
paramount. 

And  it  would  do  so  much  more  readily  were  it 
not  for  a  certain  antagonism  which  has  been  fostered 
by  the  narrower  clerical  influences,  sometimes  on  the 
Cathohc,  sometimes  on  the  Puritan  side.  How  could 
sculpture  thrive  in  a  church  like  the  Eastern,  which 
counts  it  idolatrous  }  or  how  could  any  art  but  the 
austerest  form  of  poetry  flourish  under  the  Puritan 
influence  ?    Or  how  could  the  drama  own  the  authority 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ.  107 

of  Christ  under  a  system  which  denied  Christian  burial 
to  Moliere  ?  In  these  later  days  it  is  found  that  the 
feeling  for  the  drama  has  increased  among  Christian 
people  ;  and  it  may  well  be  hoped  that  to  all  the  arts 
a  similar  liberal  policy  may  extend  ;  that  so,  while 
remaining  free,  as  they  must  ever  be,  they  may  in 
their  freedom  own  the  beneficent  influence  of  the 
redeeming  spirit  of  our  Lord. 

5.  Is,  then,  the  domain  of  the  natural  sciences 
outside  the  pale  and  influence  of  Christianity  ?  Is 
this  great  realm,  which  to  some  minds  seems  to  em- 
brace the  whole  circle  of  human  interests,  or  at  least 
to  dwarf  all  others,  outside  the  dominion  of  Christ  ? 
Is  its  growth  destined  to  obliterate  those  spheres  in 
which  Christian  morality  is  seen  to  be  rightfully 
supreme  ?  I  maintain,  on  the  contrary,  that  those 
spheres  which  we  most  readily  associate  with  Christi- 
anity are  paramount,  while  the  natural  sciences  are 
subservient  to  them  ;  and,  also,  that  the  sustaining 
interest  of  the  natural  sciences  is  derived  from  those 
spheres  of  human  life  which  we  more  readily  recognise 
as  subject  to  our  Lord. 

The  various  realms  of  knowledge  and  of  interest 
cannot  for  ever  stand  apart.  There  must  be  a  co- 
ordination of  the  sciences  ;  and  if  to  some  few  minds 
the  natural  sciences  are  everything,  this  we  must 
regard  as  a  revolt  from  their  former  depression,  and 
as  constituting  only  a  temporary  phase  of  thought. 
The  humanities,  as  they  are  rightly  called,  will  in  due* 
time  assert  their  supremacy.    Every  serious  co-ordi- 


io8         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

nation  of  the  sciences  must  be,  with  whatever  minor 
adjustments,  a  reflexion  of  that  which  is  assumed  in 
the  Scriptures;  it  must  place  man  himself  as  the 
centre,  and  the  rest  as  dependent  upon  him.  It  will 
always  be  much  more  important  for  us  to  know  how 
we  may  live  justly  and  love  one  another,  than  how 
material  bodies  are  mutually  attracted,  or  how  the 
various  parts  of  the  universe  came  to  be  what  they 
now  are.  We  must,  indeed,  maintain  that  to  neglect 
the  natural  sciences  is  to  stunt  human  life,  and  we 
may  thankfully  recognise  that  the  discoveries  made  in 
those  sciences  have  greatly  conduced  to  moral  and 
religious  good  by  giving  us  a  truer  understanding  of 
the  world  in  which  we  live.  The  true  moralist  will 
neglect  no  light  which  can  be  thrown  upon  human 
nature  from  the  physical  side.  But  the  physicist 
must  come  to  feel  that  his  main  interest  centres  in 
man.  Before  embarking  in  any  enquiry,  the  mind 
almost  irresistibly  asks  the  question,  to  what  good 
does  this  tend  }  Will  it  conduce  to  human  well-being? 
Mere  curiosity  and  mere  abstract  aimless  impulses 
will  not  sustain  a  man  in  the  tedious  pursuit  of 
knowledge.  He  looks  for  his  reward  in  the  enlighten- 
ment, the  advantage,  the  beauty  which  he  may  shed 
by  his  discoveries  upon  the  path  of  his  fellow-men. 
Would  astronomy  be  worth  pursuing  were  it  not  that 
it  reveals  to  us  some  of  the  primary  conditions  of  our 
existence  in  this  planet }  Would  chemistry  be  the 
absorbing  pursuit  which  it  is  to  its  votaries  with- 
out the  assurance  that  organic  chemistry  is  a  step 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ.  109 

towards  life  and  morals  ?  What  makes  us  await  each 
new  discovery  in  physiology  but  that  it  implicates 
human  nature  ?  Are  not  all  these  sciences  so  en- 
trancing because  they,  from  various  sides,  approach 
the  problem  of  problems,  the  nature  and  origin  of 
life  ?  And  does  not  the  delight  which  the  mind 
receives  from  the  growing  probability  of  the  doctrine 
of  evolution,  lie  in  the  promise  which  it  seems  to  give 
of  binding  all,  human  and  non-human,  into  one  great 
Cosmos  ?  If  that  be  so,  then  human  life  is  that  to 
which  all  has  been  working  upwards  from  the  be- 
ginning ;  the  Word  and  the  Spirit,  to  use  religious 
language,  presided  over  the  construction  of  the  world ; 
or,  to  use  the  language  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  our 
men  of  science,  the  promise  and  potency  of  human 
life  lay  in  the  primeval  elements  waiting  for  its 
development.  Christ  is  the  head  of  humanity  ;  and, 
if  all  knowledge  centres  in  humanity,  it  centres  in 
Christ.  What  is  this  but  to  say  that  Christ  is  its 
king  1 

6.  Lastly,  it  might  seem  easy  to  vindicate  for  our 
Lord  a  sovereignty  over  all  the  relations  of  human 
beings,  who  are  bound  together  by  justice  and  by 
love.  But  there  is  a  strange  tendency  to  limit  his 
empire  even  here  ;  and,  stranger  still,  this  limitation 
often  comes  from  his  professed  followers  and  ministers. 
God  and  Caesar  are  set  in  antagonism.  It  is  believed 
by  many  that  the  sphere  of  politics  can  be  dissevered 
from  that  of  religion,  and  this  has  been  made  the 
ground  of  theories  which,  whether  they  come  from 


no         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

the  clerical  or  the  secular  side,  are  equally  godless. 
It  cannot  be  that  the  public  life,  the  natural  home  of 
justice,  should  be  separate  from  the  God  whose  very 
nature  is  righteousness.  If  we  can  but  bring  our- 
selves to  acknowledge  that  justice  itself  is  pleasing  to 
God,  and  that  what  is  most  important  is  not  the 
naming  of  Christ's  name,  but  the  doing  of  the  things 
which  embody  his  mind,  we  shall  not  fail  to  perceive 
that  the  political  life  of  mankind  is  even  now  under 
Christ's  supreme  direction. 

Take  the  three  most  remarkable  political  phe- 
nomena of  our  own  generation,  and  this  will  be  made 
clear. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  triumph  of  constitutional 
government  throughout  Europe.  We  who  are  but 
middle-aged  men  can  remember  the  time  when  every 
European  nation  but  our  own  was  under  personal  rule. 
Italy,  Hungary,  France,  Spain,  Austria,  Prussia,  had  all 
the  same  tale  to  tell.  Now  they  all  tell  another  tale ; 
they  are  all  self-governed.  But  what  is  constitutional 
government  1  It  is  only  the  expression  in  public 
affairs  of  the  Christian  sentiments  of  justice  and  love. 
Is  it  not  equitable  that  nations  as  soon  as  they  have 
outgrown  the  state  of  childhood  should  rule  them- 
selves }  Can  any  one,  starting  from  the  Christian 
principle  of  equity,  fail  to  recognise  that  it  is  not  the 
will  of  a  single  man  which  ought  to  impose  itself  on 
the  whole  society,  but  that  the  society  itself  should 
rule  }  Is  it  not,  again,  exactly  in  accordance  with 
Christian  principle  that  the  ruler  should  not  be  one 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ. 


Ill 


who  forces  his  own  authority  upon  the  rest,  but  one 
who  suggests,  advises,  persuades,  and  finally  leads 
with  the  consent  of  the  rest  ?  Is  not  this  the  very 
spirit  of  the  words,  "neither  as  lords  over  God's 
heritage,  but  as  ensamples  to  the  flock  ? "  And  what 
is  the  impulse  which  has  procured  the  gradual  exten- 
sion of  the  suffrage  but  the  Christian  wish  to  take  into 
consultation  all  who  are  affected  by  the  policy  of  the 
state,  so  that  not  even  the  interests  of  one  of  the  little 
ones  of  the  flock  shall  be  neglected  ?  It  is  often  taken 
for  granted  that  the  organisation  for  public  worship 
where  this  is  not  done  is  under  Christ's  direction,  but 
that  secular  politics  in  which  it  is  done  are  not.  The 
contrary  is  the  case.  Christ  is,  and  he  reigns,  where 
justice  and  love  bear  rule. 

The  second  notable  progress  accomplished  during 
this  generation  is  the  recognition  of  the  principle  that 
no  nation  should  domineer  over  another.  Greece  and 
Italy,  Hungary  and  Germany,  are  all  cases  in  which 
this  has  been  acknowledged  ;  and  now  the  other 
nations  comprised  in  European  Turkey  are  being 
added  to  the  list  one  by  one.  And  even  England, 
in  the  plenitude  of  its  imperialism,  is  fain  to  acknow- 
ledge that  in  India  its  power  must  be  vindicated,  not 
as  a  conquest  but  a  tutelage.  Here  again  we  have 
Christian  justice  asserting  itself 

A  third  progress,  which  is  a  progress  rather  in 
hope  than  in  fulfilment,  is  some  bond  of  agreement 
and  co-operation  among  the  great  Christian  nations 
of  the  west,  which  may  tend  to  diminish  wars,  and 


112         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life, 

to  raise  the  weaker  members  of  the  commonwealth 
of  nations.  That  there  have  been  great  wars  in  our 
time  is  true  ;  but  the  difference  between  these  wars 
and  those  of  the  last  century  is  this,  that  in  the  last 
century  men  fought  for  territory  and  power,  and, 
whether  they  gained  these  or  lost  them,  the  wars 
were  simply  evil ;  whereas  in  our  day,  every  war  has 
been  for  some  great  cause,  and  has  resulted  in  good. 
The  Crimean  war  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  a 
tyrannical  influence  which  weighed  on  all  Europe, 
the  Italian  war  in  the  unity  of  Italy,  the  American 
war  in  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  war  of  1866  in 
the  expulsion  of  Austria  from  Italy  and  Germany, 
the  war  of  1870  in  the  termination  of  the  Napoleonic 
regime  in  France  and  in  Europe  and  the  unification 
of  Germany,  the  war  of  1877  in  the  liberation  of  the 
nationalities  oppressed  by  the  Turks.  But  it  is  begin- 
ning to  be  felt  that  war  is  a  terrible  evil  of  which 
Christendom  should  be  ashamed.  We  cannot  con- 
tentedly regard  it,  as  was  done  in  a  famous  sermon 
from  this  pulpit,  or  as  in  the  inscription  on  a  gun  of 
Louis  XIV.,  as  ultima  ratio  regwn,  the  final  argument 
of  kings.  We  want  some  method  which  will  dispense 
with  bloodshed  as  the  ultimate  appeal  of  Christian 
rulers.  We  have  ourselves,  in  the  Alabama  Arbitra- 
tion, made  one  successful  essay  in  the  better  path,  by 
which  war  has  been  avoided  and  jealousy  almost 
eradicated  between  two  Christian  nations.  And  in 
the  Congress  of  Berlin  we  have  again  substituted 
the  arbitrament  of  argument  for  that  of  the  svvord. 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ. 


\Vliat  do  these  things  mean,  but  that  Christian  equity 
and  kindness  are  gradually  coming  to  be  acknow- 
ledged, or  in  other  words  that  Christ  is  asserting  His 
empire  over  the  whole  domain  of  political  life  ? 

I  have  three  remarks  to  make  in  conclusion. 

I.  What  I  have  endeavoured  to  assert,  the  claim 
of  Christ  to  rule,  nay,  the  actual  progress  of  his 
dominion,  will  seem  to  many  overstrained.  The 
reason  why  this  seems  to  be  so  is  that  you  have 
identified  Christ  with  clericalism  or  ecclesiasticism. 
It  is  not,  I  repeat,  the  rule  of  the  clergy,  nor  the 
supremacy  of  public  worship,  nor  of  the  thought  of 
another  life,  nor  of  theology,  nor  of  the  opinions 
which  have  been  commonly  taken  as  Christian,  that 
we  have  advocated,  but  the  supremacy  of  Christ,  of 
His  spirit,  of  His  righteousness  and  His  love. 

A  book  was  published  some  fourteen  years  ago 
which  professed  to  be  the  history  of  rationalism  in 
Europe.  It  showed  how  one  by  one  various  spheres 
such  as  those  on  which  I  have  dwelt  to-day  had 
liberated  themselves  from  certain  unjust  or  un- 
reasonable ideas,  which  had  for  a  long  time  domi- 
nated in  the  name  of  Christianity.  The  equivocal 
title  of  the  work  made  it  seem  as  though  the  process 
which  was  described  was  the  taking  away  of  each 
sphere  in  succession  from  under  the  dominion  of 
Christ,  in  the  interest  of  the  dominion  of  human 
reason.  But  there  is  no  conflict  between  Christ  and 
human  reason.  What  has  been  called  the  sweet 
reasonableness  of  Christ  is  as  applicable  to  all 
H 


114         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

these  spheres  as  it  was  to  that  of  Judaic  morals. 
The  process  which  was  described  was  really  the 
winning  back  of  each  sphere  in  succession  from 
childishness,  or  ignorance,  or  injustice,  or  prejudice, 
or  from  a  mere  belated  conservatism  which  had 
clothed  itself  w^ith  the  Christian  name,  to  Christ 
himself,  who  is  human  reason  in  its  noblest  form. 
If  Christianity  is  to  be  identified  with  what  in  a  vague 
manner  is  called  clericalism,  it  must  perish  ;  or,  since 
it  is  imperishable,  it  must  clothe  itself  in  a  new  form 
more  like  itself  But  if  clericalism  means  all  that  was 
combated  in  the  history  of  rationalism,  it  is  really 
un-Christian  in  the  highest  degree.  It  is  the  voice 
of  Christ,  not  that  of  a  secular  politician,  which  is 
saying  to  Europe  Clericalism — that  is  the  enemy." 
Over  the  prostrate  body  of  such  clericalism  as  that 
Christ  is  advancing  to  the  empire  of  the  world. 

2.  The  dominion  which  we  claim  for  our  Lord  is 
not  a  restraint,  but  a  stimulus.  We  who  are  the 
children  of  Christian  Constitutionalism  have  learnt, 
a  little  earlier  than  the  other  nations,  that  government 
is  not  restraint  but  the  free  expression  of  the  life  of 
the  society.  We  are  expecting  in  our  rulers,  and 
finding  in  some  few  of  them,  a  leadership  in  works  of 
utility  which  free  our  commerce,  and  facilitate  the 
expansion  of  industry,  and  promote  temperance  and 
thrift  and  knowledge.  That  which  we  expect  in  our 
rulers  we  find  in  Christ.  "  I  am  a  King,"  He  said, 
''because  I  bear  witness  to  truth,  and  all  truthful 
souls  follow  me."    When  we  say  that  Christ  is  King 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ. 


in  each  of  the  spheres  on  which  we  have  touched,  we 
do  not  mean  that  these  spheres  are  to  be  subjected 
to  some  external  power,  but  that  each  of  them,  by 
the  free  development  of  its  proper  principle  of  life, 
is  to  become  more  and  more  a  field  for  the  exercise 
of  truth  and  love.  St.  Paul  said,  "Whatever  gift  we 
have,  let  us  luait  upon  it,''  that  is,  let  us  exercise  it 
it  according  to  its  proper  development — "  whether 
ministering,  let  us  wait  on  our  ministering  :  or  he 
that  teacheth,  on  teaching ;  he  that  ruleth,  let  him  do 
it  with  diligence,"  and  so  with  the  other  functions  of 
the  Christian  life.  So  we  may  say,  whatever  sphere 
of  life  you  move  in,  fill  that  sphere  according  to  its 
own  need  and  strive  after  its  proper  virtue  and  excel- 
lence, and  you  will  make  it  Christ's. 

And  thus  we  do  not  want  merely  to  negotiate  a 
strained  concordat  between  Christianity  and  other 
spheres  of  life,  but  to  bring  to  bear  upon  even,- 
sphere  an  elevating  and  redeeming  influence.  Our 
Christianity  must  not  be  content  to  be  found  barely 
compatible  with  human  progress.  It  must  take  the 
lead.  It  must  bear  the  flag  at  the  head  of  the 
advancing  column.  It  must  have  an  appropriate 
message  for  ever}-  class  of  men.  It  must  appreciate 
art  as  art,  knowledge  as  knowledge,  literature  as 
literature,  politics  as  politics.  It  must  urge  them 
to  excellence.  It  must  set  the  highest  standard 
before  them.  It  must  welcome  every  new  fact  that 
is  laid  bare,  every  new  invention,  every  production 
of  art,  every  extension  of  commerce,  everj^  great 
H  2 


1 1 6         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

literary  work,  every  development  of  political  freedom. 
It  must  do  more;  it  must  call  for  these  incessantly, 
and  stimulate  men  in  the  search  for  them.  It  must 
shew  its  Christ-like  love  for  men  by  leading  them  on 
to  triumph. 

3.  This  reign  of  Christ  of  which  we  have  spoken^ 
the  reign  about  which  His  last  injunctions  were  given 
in  the  forty  days  between  Easter  and  Pentecost, 
must  be  enforced  in  Christian  teaching.  We  have 
been  too  long  at  the  threshold,  thinking  how  salva- 
tion may  be  won  and  sin  forgiven,  too  little  in  the 
Palace  itself  where  Christ  reigns.  The  difficulty 
which  meets  us  everywhere  when  we  seek  to  bring 
the  world  under  Christ's  authority  is  to  infuse  the 
higher  motive  where  so  much  is  inert,  and  there  is 
such  a  tendency  to  sluggishness  and  even  to  revert 
to  some  former  and  lower  type.  But  it  is  to  this  that 
Christian  teaching  must  apply  itself  It  must  treat 
mankind  as  having  become  the  subjects  of  Christ's 
redemption,  it  must  assert  His  reign  in  detail  over 
each  sphere  in  which  He  is  King.  A  former  age 
produced  the  Religio  Medici.  We  must  have  in  this 
age  the  religion  of  art,  the  religion  of  science,  the  reli- 
gion of  the  drama,  the  religion  of  trade.  The  problem 
for  the  ministers  of  Christianity  lies  here,  to  make  it 
effective  in  all  the  walks  of  life  in  which  a  man 
moves.  If  dogmas  trouble  you,  let  dogmas  alone 
for  the  time.  But  your  life  must  be  lived  here  and 
to-day  ;  and  if  it  is  to  be  in  the  right  it  must  be 
inspired  by  Christ's  spirit.    Learn  to  say  to  your- 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ. 


117 


self,  "  All  that  I  do,  I  do  for  God  in  gratitude  for 
His  fatherly  love."  When  your  eyes  open  to  duty  in 
the  morning,  bring  your  duty  before  Him  in  prayer, 
and  resolve  with  His  help  to  do  your  duty  well.  In 
your  more  speculative  moments,  when  your  thoughts 
take  a  larger  range,  bring  your  conscience  still  to 
Him,  and  consider  this  question  chiefly,  "What  is 
God  showing  me  to  be  true  and  right?"  This  will 
be  to  you  a  sustaining  power  to  bear  you  above  des- 
pondency and  keep  your  aim  true  and  your  energies 
vigorous.  And  by  so  doing  you  will  serve  that 
service  which  is  perfect  freedom,  and  further  that 
reign  under  which  is  no  bondage,  the  reign  of  human 
and  Christian  excellence,  which  is  the  reflexion  of 
the  Divine  perfection,  to  bring  about  which  Christ 
died,  to  ensure  which  he  reigns  for  ever. 


1 1 6         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

literary  work,  every  development  of  political  freedom. 
It  must  do  more;  it  must  call  for  these  incessantly, 
and  stimulate  men  in  the  search  for  them.  It  must 
shew  its  Christ-like  love  for  men  by  leading  them  on 
to  triumph. 

3.  This  reign  of  Christ  of  which  we  have  spoken,, 
the  reign  about  which  His  last  injunctions  were  given 
in  the  forty  days  between  Easter  and  Pentecost, 
must  be  enforced  in  Christian  teaching.  We  have 
been  too  long  at  the  threshold,  thinking  how  salva- 
tion may  be  won  and  sin  forgiven,  too  little  in  the 
Palace  itself  where  Christ  reigns.  The  difficulty 
which  meets  us  everywhere  when  we  seek  to  bring 
the  world  under  Christ's  authority  is  to  infuse  the 
higher  motive  where  so  much  is  inert,  and  there  is 
such  a  tendency  to  sluggishness  and  even  to  revert 
to  some  former  and  lower  type.  But  it  is  to  this  that 
Christian  teaching  must  apply  itself  It  must  treat 
mankind  as  having  become  the  subjects  of  Christ's 
redemption,  it  must  assert  His  reign  in  detail  over 
each  sphere  in  which  He  is  King.  A  former  age 
produced  the  Religio  Medici.  We  must  have  in  this 
age  the  religion  of  art,  the  religion  of  science,  the  reli- 
gion of  the  drama,  the  religion  of  trade.  The  problem 
for  the  ministers  of  Christianity  lies  here,  to  make  it 
effective  in  all  the  walks  of  life  in  which  a  man 
moves.  If  dogmas  trouble  you,  let  dogmas  alone 
for  the  time.  But  your  life  must  be  lived  here  and 
to-day  ;  and  if  it  is  to  be  in  the  right  it  must  be 
inspired  by  Christ's  spirit.    Learn  to  say  to  your- 


The  Supremacy  of  Christ. 


117 


self,  "  All  that  I  do,  I  do  for  God  in  gratitude  for 
His  fatherly  love."  When  your  eyes  open  to  duty  in 
the  morning,  bring  your  duty  before  Him  in  prayer, 
and  resolve  with  His  help  to  do  your  duty  well.  In 
your  more  speculative  moments,  when  your  thoughts 
take  a  larger  range,  bring  your  conscience  still  to 
Him,  and  consider  this  question  chiefly,  "What  is 
God  showing  me  to  be  true  and  right.?"  This  will 
be  to  you  a  sustaining  power  to  bear  you  above  des- 
pondency and  keep  your  aim  true  and  your  energies 
vigorous.  And  by  so  doing  you  will  serve  that 
serv^ice  which  is  perfect  freedom,  and  further  that 
reign  under  which  is  no  bondage,  the  reign  of  human 
and  Christian  excellence,  which  is  the  reflexion  of 
the  Divine  perfection,  to  bring  about  which  Christ 
died,  to  ensure  which  he  reigns  for  ever. 


IV 


©lertton  ani  privilege  in  EeUgiou* 


IV. 


(Skttmx  anlr  pn'bi'Iege  in  ajleligiom 

{Preached  before  the  University  of  Oxford^  November  2,  1879.) 


"That  we  should  be  a  kind  of  first-fruits  of  His  creatures." — 
James  i.  18. 


Among  the  antagonisms  which  it  is  the  function 
of  Christianity  to  destroy,  and  which  I  have  made  it 
the  special  object  of  my  sermons  here  to  attempt  to 
abate,  there  is  none  deeper  than  that  which  springs 
from  rehgious  privilege.  It  is  impossible  to  deny 
that  religious  privilege  exists.  Men  are  not  placed 
on  an  absolute  equality.  There  have  been  chosen 
nations,  and  there  are  chosen  souls,  such  as  those 
whose  memory  was  celebrated  in  yesterday's  festival 
of  All  Saints.  The  Christian  Church  is  chosen  from 
the  rest  of  mankind.  The  clergy  have  a  pre-emi- 
nence within  the  Church.  There  are  individuals  who 
through  special  advantages  or  special  endowments 
attain  an  eminence  which  those  differently  placed 
cannot  possibly  attain.  And  the  assertion  of  this 
has  at  times  had  the  effect  of  filling  the  possessors 
of  religious  privilege  with  pride  and  contempt  of 
others,  while  it  has  aroused  in  those  less  privileged  a 
sense  of  injustice,  a  bitter  resentment,  and  a  rebellion 


122         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

against  the  Divine  decree.  Where  is  the  charm 
which  will  exorcise  these  evils  and  vindicate  the 
ways  of  God  to  man,  and  turn  the  galling  sense  of 
inequality  into  that  in  which  we  can  rest  content — a 
diversity  of  endowment  for  a  common  service  ?  It 
is  to  be  found  in  the  belief  consciously  held  and 
worked  out,  that  the  purpose  for  which  we  are  called 
is  not  to  be  select  and  separate,  but  to  serve  others,  not 
to  be  a  peculiar  treasure  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
Jews  were  apt  to  apply  these  words  to  themselves, 
but  the  first-fruits  of  God's  creatures  ;  that  the  end  of 
election  is  not  our  personal  happiness,  nor  even  our 
personal  holiness,  but  that  we  may  be  the  channels  of 
good  to  mankind. 

Let  us  set  before  ourselves  the  antagonism  which 
we  desire  to  abate.  We  are  Christians  and  believe 
that  Christianity  contains  the  saving  truth  for  indi- 
viduals and  mankind  ;  but  this  may  so  be  asserted 
as  to  breed  mere  self-complacency  in  us.  It  is  said 
that  the  old  British  Church  did  nothing  to  evangelise 
the  Saxons  because  the  possession  of  Christianity  was 
the  peculiar  treasure  which  gave  them  the  pre-eminence 
over  their  adversaries.  It  is  said  that  the  Boers  of 
South  Africa,  who  pride  themselves  in  their  posses- 
sion of  the  Bible,  have  used  this  pre-eminence  to 
encourage  in  themselves  a  destructive  and  mur- 
derous contempt  for  the  heathen  around  them.  A 
similar  spirit  often  lurks  unexpressed  amongst  others 
than  the  Boers  who  boast  of  the  Christian  name. 
Again,  Christianity  springs  from  Judaism,  and  "  Sal- 


Election  and  Privilege  in  Religion.  123 

vation  is  of  the  Jews."  But  He  who  spoke  these 
words  had  nothing  more  constantly  at  heart  than 
to  do  away  with  the  enmity  founded  on  the  rehgious 
privilege  of  the  Jews,  an  enmity  so  deep  that  to  St. 
Paul  the  abatement  of  it  was  the  grand  mystery  of 
the  Gospel.  And  in  our  own  day  the  assertion  of  the 
Jewish  revelation  has  often  been  used  to  dim  the  sense 
of  God's  universal  Fatherhood,  and  consequently  of 
man's  universal  brotherhood.  The  assertion,  again, 
of  the  divine  nature  of  our  Lord  is  often  the  cause 
of  stumbling,  because  it  seems  that  it  draws  away 
the  divine  from  all  else,  and  absorbs  into  itself  the 
vital  sap  of  the  Divine  Spirit  which  should  quicken 
the  rest  of  the  race  and  its  leaders.  So,  too,  the 
position  and  privileges  of  the  ordained  ministers  of 
Christ  may  be  so  asserted  as  to  make  them  the  ex- 
clusive channels  of  grace,  and  to  close  up  all  other 
channels  of  divine  influence  :  and  both  at  home,  and 
still  more  abroad,  the  alienation  of  clergy  and  laity 
becomes  a  source  of  disquiet  and  of  hatred.  And  in 
the  individual  life,  and  that  of  religious  societies,  can 
we  say  that  Pharisaism  and  self-righteousness  are 
dead }  Is  it  not  rather  the  tendency  of  every 
religious  movement  to  separate  its  sincerest  vota- 
ries from  their  fellows,  to  make  them  into  a  coterie 
in  which  their  own  privileges  become  exclusive,  and 
their  own  peculiarities  the  essence  of  religion,  and 
injustice  is  done  to  the  convictions  and  spiritual 
position  of  others?  We  might  multiply  examples; 
but  enough  has  been  said  to  place  the  evil  clearly 


124         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

before  us.  How  can  it  be  combated  and  eradi- 
cated ? 

It  is  of  no  use  to  deny  religious  privilege,  for  it 
exists.  To  deny  the  pre-eminence  of  Christianity,  or 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  to  make  the  religion  of  Israel 
merely  one  of  many  religions  holding  an  equal  rank 
in  the  education  of  the  race,  to  deny  the  principle  of 
ministerial  power  in  the  Church  or  the  eminence  of 
individual  elect  natures,  is  contrary  to  fact  and  to 
experience.  Such  an  attempt  to  introduce  a  levelling 
democracy  into  spiritual  affairs,  is,  in  that  sphere,  as 
in  politics,  merely  the  reaction  from  the  overstrain  of 
the  autocratic  or  hierarchical  principle.  It  is  not  the 
fact  that  we  are  all  alike  in  capacity,  or  disposition, 
or  opportunity.  What  we  have  to  do  is  to  accept  the 
existence  of  these  distinctions,  to  admit  that  religious 
privilege  is  a  fact,  to  estimate  its  meaning,  bearing, 
and  circumference,  by  the  guiding  light  of  a  con- 
viction of  God's  love  and  His  redemptive  purpose  ; 
but  on  the  other  hand  to  be  aware  of  the  danger 
and  abuse  to  which  this  principle  is  liable,  and  to 
shew  that  the  true  religious  privilege  is  simply  the 
opportunity  of  doing  good,  the  means  of  ensuring  the 
ingathering  of  the  harvest  of  which  it  is  the  first-fruits. 
We  may  then  make  such  applications  of  this  principle 
as  will  duly  test  and  enforce  it. 

I. — It  may  be  said  that  religious  privilege  is  the 
result  of  man's  own  choice.  This  man  chose  to 
school  himself  to  duty,  or  usefulness,  or  the  dis- 
charge of  special  functions,  and  another  did  not. 


Election  and  Privilege  in  Religion.  125 

The  former  enjoys  the  distinction  of  a  pre-eminence 
in  godliness  and  usefulness ;  and  it  is  his  own  doing. 
But  this  will  not  account  for  all  cases.  Even  in  the 
case  supposed,  who  gave  this  man  the  force  of  will  or 
the  power  of  perception  which  enabled  him  to  gain 
this  pre-eminence  ?  And  in  a  great  many  cases  our 
own  choice  has  little  to  do  with  the  matter.  No  one 
would  maintain  that  by  any  effort  of  choice  or  will 
a  Hindoo  who  had  never  heard  of  Christianity  could 
become  a  Chnstian.  All  the  great  leaders  of  Israel 
confessed  that  it  was  not  to  their  own  doing  that  their 
high  position  was  due,  but  to  God's  sovereign  choice. 
We  see  a  man  who  has  gained  a  position  of  extra- 
ordinary influence,  and  we  ask  how  this  has  come 
about.  We  see  others  who  had  equal  abilities,  equal 
goodness,  equal  energy,  who  yet  have  never  taken  a 
similar  position.  Whatever  place  we  allow  to  men's 
power  of  choice  and  will,  we  must  ultimately  fall  back 
on  the  "  Providence  which  shapes  our  ends,  rough 
hew  them  how  we  will." 

I  do  not  purpose,  as  you  may  well  believe,  to 
embark  upon  the  question  of  free  will  and  the  divine 
sovereignty.  But  I  may  point  out  that  it  is  by  no 
means  necessary  to  embrace  either  term  in  an  absolute 
way.  We  should  be  false  to  our  consciousness  were  we 
to  deny  that  we  have  a  certain  power  over  our  own 
destiny  and  over  the  formation  of  our  own  character, 
and  that  for  this  we  may  be  judged  by  the  ordinary 
rules  of  human  responsibility.  But  in  these  rules  there 
is  nothing  absolute  ;  our  free  will  is  strictly  limited  in 


128         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life, 

privilege  is  of  many  kinds,  that  it  sometimes  is 
reversed  in  the  course  of  Hfe,  that  men  must  be 
judged  according  to  their  works,  that  the.  last  are 
first  and  the  first  last.  When  we  have  made  these 
admissions,  what  remains  of  religious  privilege  is  a 
certain  pre-eminence,  like  that  of  the  elder  brother  in 
a  family,  where  all  are  treated  impartially,  and  all 
work  for  each  other's  good. 

That  this  pre-eminence  exists  it  would  be  useless 
to  deny.  Indeed,  we  may  say  more.  It  seems  to  be 
a  necessary  part  of  the  construction  of  human  society. 
It  has  analogies  in  every  department  of  human  life. 
We  commonly  say  that  religion  came  to  us  through 
the  Jews,  art  and  intellectual  thought  through  the 
Greeks,  law  through  the  Romans,  family  life  through 
the  Germans.  Each  of  these  implies  a  position  of 
privilege  or  pre-eminence  in  the  nations  who  have 
thus  been  the  channel  of  good  to  men.  And,  simi- 
larly, every  invention  has  come  to  us  through  a 
specially  gifted  and  privileged  inventor.  Every  great 
movement  in  social  or  political  life  may  be  traced  to 
some  individual  or  some  set  of  men,  who  have  been 
privileged  to  be  its  originators.  The  diffusion  of 
truth  is  not  by  the  equal  instruction  of  all  men  at  the 
same  moment,  but  by  rings  and  circles  of  influence, 
to  which  the  privilege  is  given  of  recognising  the 
truth,  and  through  whom  it  spreads  and  spreads  till 
it  becomes  the  possession  of  all.  Why  should  it  be 
different  with  religious  truth  and  goodness  }  And  if 
not,  then  the  doctrine  of  election  and  of  spiritual 


Election  and  Privilege  in  Religion. 


129 


privilege  is  only  according  to  the  general  law  by 
which  the  existence  of  men  in  society  is  ruled. 

But  it  may  be  asked  whether  this  fact  does  not 
militate  against  the  justice  of  God  in  the  same  way 
as  the  old  doctrine  of  election  and  reprobation.  Is  it 
not  a  mere  modification  of  that  doctrme  when  we  say 
that  some  enjoy  a  special  privilege  which  to  others  is 
denied  1  We  can  hardly  say  this,  unless  our  idea  of 
justice  demands  a  formal  and  exact  equality,  or  even 
uniformity,  in  the  construction  of  the  world.  Every 
variety  implies  in  some  sense  superiority  or  in- 
feriority. But  who  would  wish  for  a  mere  uniformity, 
which  would  be  the  destruction  of  all  that  is  inte- 
resting, of  all  that  is  beautiful,  of  all  emulation,  of  all 
excellence  }  Who  cannot  see  that  to  receive  from 
one  another  and  to  impart  to  each  other  what  we 
mutually  lack,  to  win  our  way  to  whatever  good  we 
are  capable  of  through  conflict  and  aspiration,  is  a 
nobler  thing  than,  on  an  exact  level,  to  be  the 
recipients  of  an  exact  equality  of  advantages  Why 
should  we  envy  those  who  have  endowments  above 
our  own,  or  despise  those  who  have  less  t  From  the 
one  let  us  gladly  receive,  to  the  others  let  us  gladly 
impart. 

Though  we  cannot  deny  the  existence  of  religious 
privilege,  we  may  take  from  it  all  that  is  invidious,  and 
all  that  causes  division,  by  pointing  out  that  the  true 
religious  privilege  is  to  be  pre-eminent  in  serving 
others.  The  people  of  Israel,  who  are  the  type  of  the 
possessors  of  religious  privilege,  were  chosen,  not  for 
I 


130         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

themselves,  but  that  they  might  do  good  to  mankind. 
Their  conflicts,  their  very  aberrations,  were  the  means 
whereby  they  fulfilled  God's  purpose.  The  servant 
of  the  Lord  was  often  blind  and  deaf,  but  he  taught 
others  still.  And  the  loudest  blame  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New  is  directed  against  religious 
privilege  when  it  assumes  the  form  of  selfishness,  and 
congratulates  itself  on  its  superiority.  Then  it  ceases 
to  be  privilege,  and  becomes  the  means,  first  of  pride, 
and  then  of  falling.  It  is  possible  that  the  analogy 
of  the  arts  here  fails  us,  for  the  elect  of  sculpture  or 
of  painting  may,  perhaps,  have  his  satisfaction  to 
himself ;  but  the  more  nearly  we  approach  to  things 
human  and  divine,  the  more  we  find  that  no  excel- 
lence or  pre-eminence  can  exist  except  under  the 
condition  of  imparting  its  best  to  others.  The  poet 
may  be  lonely,  but  his  aliment  is  the  sympathy  of  his 
kind.  The  discoverer  in  science  or  in  medicine  is 
fired  by  the  benefit  he  may  bestow  on  others,  and  the 
value  of  his  discovery  is  to  be  measured  by  the  power 
which  it  has  of  being  communicated.  Religious 
privilege,  we  may  be  sure,  whether  in  the  teaching  or 
the  life,  is  nullified  by  the  touch  and  taint  of  selfish- 
ness. It  is  valid  just  so  far  as  it  serves  the  interests,  and 
as  it  becomes  the  heritage,  of  mankind.  So  long,  indeed, 
as  men  think  of  God's  redeeming  mercy  as  princi- 
pally occupied  in  saving  us  from  a  penalty  and 
giving  us  happiness,  election  will  still  mean  to  them 
an  invidious  preference  in  the  distribution  of  favours. 
But  once  let  it  become  the  settled  conviction  in  our 


Election  and  Privilege  in  Religion.  131 


own  minds  and  in  our  preaching,  that  its  object  is 
that  expressed  in  the  words,  "  That  we  may  be 
partakers  of  the  divine  nature,"  and  this  notion  of  an 
invidious  preference  vanishes.  For  tlie  divine  nature 
is  that  of  unceasing,  active,  self-imparting  love,  which 
works  and  suffers  to  save  us.  And  the  partaking  of 
this  nature,  the  communion  v/ith  God,  shows  itself  in 
self-sacrifice  for  truth  and  right.  What  is  there  of 
invidious  privilege  in  being  called  to  be  a  leader  in 
love,  in  sacrifice,  or  in  sufi"ering }  But  such  leader- 
ship is  the  only  one  known  to  Christianity.  There 
may  have  been  amongst  those  elect  natures  whose 
memory  in  these  two  days  of  All  Saints  and  All  Souls 
is  dear  to  Christian  hearts,  some  who  have  had  less  of 
'the  practical  power  which  draws  men  to  right,  and 
whose  life  was  spent  in  meditation.  But  it  was 
always  acknowledged  that  even  the  lives  most 
abstracted  from  the  world  were  spent  for  the  world's 
benefit ;  and  the  placing  of  All  Souls'  Day  after 
All  Saints'  associated  with  the  blissful  servants  and 
martyrs  of  Christ  those  unperfected  natures  who  were 
yet,  through  suffering,  purging  away  their  mortal 
taint.  This  was  but  the  superstitious  form  of  a  true 
conviction,  the  conviction  that  the  very  essence  of 
saintliness  is  to  be  self-imparting.  We  can  recognise 
more  than  could  the  men  of  the  dark  ages  that  the 
truly  saintly  life  is  not  one  spent  in  an  efi"ort  to 
escape  from  or  mitigate  the  punishments  of  another 
world,  but  one  spent  rejoicingly  in  the  present  service 
of  God  and  man.  But  in  all  ages  of  the  Church  the 
I  2 


132 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


divine  nature  has  been  recognised  as  the  giving  up 
of  self  for  the  good  of  men.  We  value  the  saintly 
recluse  so  far  as  his  mortification  and  absorption  in 
God  are  genuine,  and  so  far  as  his  prayers  are  for  the 
good  of  mankind.  Otherwise,  when  we  have  a  suspi- 
cion that  an  element  which  is  unreal  and  selfish  is 
present,  we  can  hardly  repress  our  scorn.  The  men 
who  have  lived  for  their  kind,  who  have  had  the  least 
consciousness  of  mere  privilege,  who  have  aspired 
(and  aspiration  implies  a  humbling  sense  of  imper- 
fection), these  are  the  true  elect,  the  possessors  of 
spiritual  privilege,  a  privilege  which,  in  various 
degrees,  may  become  the  possession  of  all. 

II. — We  must  apply  and  illustrate  our  principle 
so  as  to  test  and  enforce  it. 

I.  I  begin  with  that  which  occupies  the  chief 
place  in  practical  life  and  in  Christian  theology,  the 
call  or  appointment  of  Christ  to  be  the  head  of  all — 
"That  in  all  things,"  to  use  the  words  of  St.  Paul, 
"  He  might  have  the  pre-eminence."  He  is  the  elect 
of  the  elect.  In  Him  all  other  election  has  its  rise 
and  validity.  We  are  not  here  engaged  with  the 
metaphysical  questions  relating  to  His  pre-existence, 
or  His  relationship  to  the  Godhead  apart  from 
humanity,  but  with  the  practical  doctrine  of  His 
pre-eminence  over  all  mankind,  and  over  all  created 
things.  Is  it  not  clear  that  it  was  a  pre-eminence  in 
service,  in  devotion  to  the  good  of  mankind }  St. 
Paul  speaks  of  his  being  in  the  form  of  God  only  to 
heighten  the  sense  of  His  voluntary  self-abasement. 


Election  and  Privilege  in  Religion.  133 

He  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God — 
that  is,  He  did  not  grasp  at  that  position  as  a  selfish 
advantage;  but  He  made  Himself  of  no  reputation. 
He  emptied  Himself.  These  words  are  but  an  echo 
of  those  in  which  He  Himself  described  His  pre- 
eminence. "  Let  the  chief  be  he  that  serves,  as  the 
Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 
minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many." 
How  can  the  position  of  one  who  spoke  thus  of 
Himself  have  become  the  subject  of  contention 
among  His  followers,  or  the  occasion  of  stumbling  to 
those  without,  except  by  a  misunderstanding  of  His 
claims,  a  misunderstanding  also  of  the  divine  nature 
which  His  character  revealed  t  Do  not  all  confess 
Him  to  be  the  truest  servant  and  benefactor  of 
mankind  }  Is  not  the  conception  of  God  which  He 
presents — that,  namely,  of  a  righteous  Father,  who  is 
incessantly  working  for  our  good — one  which  irre- 
sistibly commends  itself  to  all  who  have  pondered  on 
His  life  and  death }  Why  should  we  ban  those  who, 
under  whatever  name,  accept  Him  as  miorally  and 
practically  supreme,  to  whom  His  word  is  law,  who 
desire  only  to  live  in  the  spirit  of  His  life  ?  And  how 
can  that  claim  be  the  subject  of  contention  which  is  a 
claim  only  to  a  supremacy  of  self-devotion,  a  leader- 
ship in  the  sacrifice  of  self  for  God  and  truth,  for 
right,  and  for  love  to  men  This  is  the  supreme 
religious  privilege.  Does  not  its  very  statement 
command  the  assent  of  mankind  } 

And  with  this  is  closely   connected   the  pre- 


134         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

eminence  of  faith  in  Christ,  or  in  God  as  revealed  in 
Christ,  which  is,  so  to  speak,  the  elect  of  Christian 
graces,  the  artiaihcs  stantisa  ut cadejttis  ecclesice.  If  faith 
implied,  as  it  has  often  been  taken  to  imply,  an 
assent  to  a  whole  corpus  theologies,  to  articles  such  as 
those  of  the  Athanasian  Creed,  to  peculiar  theories  of 
the  Atonement,  to  miraculous  histories,  the  assertion  of 
its  unique  importance  might  well,  as  it  has  often 
done,  excite  derision,  or  vehement  repudiation.  But 
if  it  be,  as  I  have  tried  to  point  out,  a  sympathy 
with  the  divine  goodness  which  shows  itself  forth  in 
our  Saviour's  character,  a  communion  of  service 
rendered  to  mankind,  an  aspiration  which  may  exist 
(as  it  did  exist  in  prophets  and  righteous  men  of 
old)  in  the  form  of  a  longing  for  a  goodness  unseen, 
unrealised  ;  then  I  can  hardly  conceive  how  any  one 
can  refuse  to  admit  it,  except  where  the  selfish  film 
is  but  partially  removed  from  the  spiritual  eye.  Even 
in  their  common  judgments  men  hardly  test  one 
another  by  any  other  standard  than  that  of  a  har- 
mony with  the  spirit  which  inspired  the  life  and 
death  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

2.  Let  us  take  next  the  pre-eminence  of  the 
Jewish  and  Christian  revelations  which  gives  so  great 
a  privilege  to  their  adherents.  To  this  privilege  the 
same  principle  must  be  applied.  We  vindicate,  not 
its  exclusiveness  but  its  supremacy.  It  is  the  first- 
fruits,  the  prime,  confession  of  God,  the  pledge  that 
the  whole  harvest  of  the  confession  of  God  through- 
out the  world  is  counted  genuine,  that  in  every  nation 


Election  and  Privilege  in  Religion.  135 


he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  righteousness  is 
accepted  of  Him.  This  is  a  day  in  which  fresh  dis- 
coveries are  being  made  in  the  history  of  reHgions, 
and  each  discovery  brings  to  light  not  points  of 
difference  but  analogies  and  resemblances  between 
these  religions  in  their  best  form  and  Christianity 
itself.  We  are  in  the  presence  of  a  new  science,  the 
science  of  comparative  religion ;  and  men  are  found, 
strangely  enough,  trembling  lest  the  comparison 
should  diminish  the  claims  of  the  religion  in  which 
they  have  found  their  life.  But  if  the  resemblances 
which  are  traced  are  genuine,  we  must  welcome  them 
as  pointing  to  a  truer  and  a  grander  claim  for  Christi- 
anity than  that  exclusiveness  which  has  often  been 
asserted,  the  claim  namely  of  standing  supreme, 
surrounded  by  supports  and  witnesses  whose  sound 
goes  forth  to  the  ends  of  the  world.  It  is  the  claim 
to  embody  and  complete  whatever  elements  of  truth 
are  found  in  the  other  religions.  If  Greece  had  its 
heroes  and  demigods,  what  was  this  but  a  witness  to 
the  divine  in  humanity  which  is  realised  in  Christ  ? 
If  Eg}'pt  taught  the  divine  in  animal  life,  and  Africa 
the  divine  in  inanimate  things,  is  not  even  this 
recognised  when  Christ  is  declared  to  be  the  first- 
born of  all  the  creation  If  the  Vedas  saw  God's 
power  in  Indra,  the  giver  of  rain,  and  Rita  the 
universal  law,  Christ  tells,  only  in  a  nobler  sense,  of 
the  Father  who  makes  his  rain  to  descend  on  the  evil 
and  on  the  good,  of  One  whose  will  is  eternal  life  to 
His  creatures.    The  self-sacrifice  of  Buddha  finds  its 


136         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

counterpart  of  devotion,  its  outshining  sun  of  redemp- 
tive hope,  in  the  self-sacrifice  of  Christ.  The  rigid 
monotheism  and  fatahsm  of  Mahomet  stands  out 
purified  in  the  teaching  of  our  Lord  as  the  unswerving 
will  of  righteous  love.  And  if  the  Persian  and  Egyp- 
tian religions  spoke  of  immortality,  the  Christian 
presents  to  us  as  our  goal  an  eternal  persistence  of  a 
life  of  purity.  All  religions  have  rendered  some 
service  to  mankind.  The  claim  of  Christ's  religion  is 
not  such  as  to  deny,  but  to  give  validity  to  all  those 
strivings  towards  truth  which  we  find  in  other  religions. 
Its  claim  is  that  it  has  rendered  the  chief  service  and 
is  still  capable  of  rendering  it.  And  its  adherents  are 
the  first-fruits  of  the  harvest  of  the  earth,  not  because 
of  outward  advantages  which  flow  from  its  possession, 
but  because  and  on  the  condition  that  they  are  occupied 
in  communicating  to  all  men  the  blessings  of  which 
they  are  the  first  possessors. 

3.  Our  principle  of  supremacy  or  prerogative  as 
contrary  to  exclusiveness  must  be  applied  to  Christian 
leadership,  and  especially  to  the  position  of  the 
clergy.  The  ideal  of  a  Christian  clergy  is  that  the 
natural  leaders  of  the  congregation,  those  who  are 
shown  by  a  natural  selection  to  have  been  chosen  and 
endowed  with  special  gifts  for  guidance  and  edification, 
should  be  set  apart ;  in  other  words,  that  the  gifts  of 
the  Spirit,  their  call  to  the  work,  should  be  recognised, 
and  full  opportunity  given  them  for  the  exercise  of 
those  gifts.  They  are  priests,  but  in  a  community 
every  one  of  whom  is  a  priest ;  and  priesthood  to  a 


Election  and  Privilege  in  Religion.  137 

Christian  means,  if  we  follow  the  teaching  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  self-sacrifice  for  the  good  of 
men.  To  harden  this  down  into  a  formal  ordinance, 
to  look  at  those  only  as  priests  and  ministers  who  are 
formally  ordained  by  the  imposition  of  episcopal 
hands,  to  make  the  outward  position,  the  outward 
rite,  the  chief  thing  on  which  the  spiritual  life  depends, 
is  to  ignore  the  very  genius  of  Christianity.  The 
external  order  is,  indeed,  necessary ;  it  is  the  ordinary 
channel  of  grace  ;  it  is  right,  as  a  matter  of  discipline, 
that  it  should  be  maintained  ;  and  our  effort  must 
always  be  to  make  the  outward  or<iler  correspond  with 
the  inward  fact.  But  we  must  recognise  this,  that  the 
Christian  Church  is  not  established  for  worship  alone, 
and  that  therefore  the  ministry  of  worship  can  never 
comprehend  all  Christian  leadership  or  priesthood. 
Whether  there  will  ever  come  a  time  when  an  out- 
ward ordination  will  be  bestowed  on  others  than 
those  who  lead  us  in  prayer,  who  preach  in -the  con- 
gregation and  administer  the  sacraments,  I  do  not 
know  ;  nor  can  this  be  a  very  important  question  to 
those  who  look  below  the  surface  of  things.  But  of 
this  I  am  sure,  that  God  has,  by  His  Spirit,  appointed 
many  holy  orders  in  His  Church  besides  that  of 
prayer  and  preaching,  and  that,  whether  we  use  the 
words  or  no,  vre  must  recognise  holy  orders  of  edu- 
cators, of  thinkers,  of  investigators  of  nature,  of 
artists,  of  professional  men,  and  of  political  guides. 
The  order  of  the  clergy  may  still  be  the  chief  among 
the  holy  orders  of  the  Christian  Commonwealth ;  but 


^138         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


it  must  be  the  first-fruits  of  the  rest,  not  the  exclusive 
depository  of  grace.  It  must  hold  its  pre-eminence 
on  the  condition  of  self-sacrifice,  and  of  imbuing  the 
other  orders  with  the  spirit  which  it  has  been  the  first 
to  receive.  And  in  the  supreme  work  of  prayer  and 
instruction  (for  it  will  always  be  supreme),  our  effort, 
as  clergymen,  should  be,  not  to  keep  as  much  as 
possible  in  our  own  hands,  but  to  diffuse  the  gifts  of 
edification  as  widely  as  possible.  There  is  no  likeli- 
hopd — we  may  well  wish  that  there  were — of  our 
services  being  no  longer  needed  through  Christian 
knowledge  being  universally  diffused,  and  every 
society  of  men  being  bound  together  by  prayer.  But 
the  ideal  promise  of  prophecy  is,  "  They  shall  not  teach 
every  man  his  neighbour,  saying  know  the  Lord,  for 
all  shall  know  me;"  and  this  ideal  should  be  aimed 
at  now  by  drawing  out  all  spiritual  capacities,  and 
associating  with  us  as  many  as  the  exigencies  of 
external  order  will  admit.  And  above  all,  we  should 
be  anxious  that  all  who  lead  and  teach  should  do  so 
in  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  which  is,  let  me  repeat, 
the  only  true  priesthood — tlie  spirit  which  refuses  to 
separate  itself  from  mankind,  and  to  become  a  spirit 
of  clique,  the  spirit  which  longs  to  share  all  the  good 
which  it  contains  at  whatever  cost  to  itself  with  the 
widest  possible  circle. 

4.  And  lastly,  the  principle  of  supremacy  as 
against  exclusiveness  is  to  be  applied  to  the  position 
of  religious  men.  To  some  it  seems  invidious  and 
even  untrue  to  speak  of  any  as  specially  religious 


Election  and  Privilege  in  Religion.  ^39 

men.  But  the  fact  that  some  men  are  specially 
religious  can  hardly  be  denied.  Indeed,  this  has 
appeared  to  some  so  evident,  and  to  involve  so  great 
a  distinction,  that  they  have  held  that  some  are  called 
to  be  religious  men,  while  on  the  rest  no  obligation 
rests  to  think  of  religion,  since  they  have  no  capacity 
for  it.  And  one  distinguished  writer,  vexed  with  the 
phases  of  faith  through  which  he  had  passed,  has 
contended  that  there  are  some  spiritual  natures  who 
might  be  called  twice  born,  while  the  rest  must  be 
content  with  some  attainment  of  a  more  earthly 
virtue.  Between  these  extremes  lies  the  truth.  When 
personal  religion  is  deeply  felt,  it  seems  at  first  to 
separate  a  man  from  others.  No  one,  he  almost 
inclines  to  say,  has  ever  seen  things  as  I  see,  or  felt 
as  I  feel.  What  a  new  view  of  the  world  is  opened 
to  him  !  What  discoveries  of  the  great  distinction 
of  evil  and  good  !  What  a  light,  revealing,  like  a 
flash  of  lightning,  all  the  moral  world  which  before 
was  dim  in  its  proper  colours  !  What  a  sense  of  God's 
mercy  in  Christ !  What  a  longing  for  holiness,  like 
the  first  consciousness  of  a  deep  human  affection  ! 
What  a  sense  of  responsibility,  and  of  the  vast  issues 
of  eternal  life  and  death !  What  is  this  but  being 
separated,  and  called  by  the  grace  of  God  ?  And  can 
you  believe  that  all  alike  are  thus  separated  }  It  is 
not  so.  You  find  some  few  who  have  felt  with  you. 
You  dimly  suspect  that  there  are  others.  But  beyond 
these  the  world  still  seems  to  lie  in  the  outer  darkness. 
But  neither  is  that  quite  the  case.    There  is  a  spiritual 


I40         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

nature  as  well  as  a  moral  in  which  all  the  world  are 
kin.  The  words  and  deeds  in  which  it  is  expressed, 
if  only  they  bear  the  impress  of  true  love,  will  not  fail 
to  meet  with  a  response.  Often  has  that  occurred 
which  is  related  of  himself  by  a  great  soldier,  whose 
rough  appearance  seemed  very  unsympathetic  to  a 
lady  who  gave  him  a  book  of  devotion  : — "  She  evi- 
dently imagined,"  so  he  writes  in  his  journal,  "  that 
men  like  me  have  no  thought  of  such  things.  But  we 
have."  And  many  passages  in  the  journal  of  that 
great  man  tell  of  his  consciousness  of  the  great 
struggle,  as  he  terms  it,  between  the  evil  spirit  and 
the  good  all  through  the  world,  and  of  the  paramount 
importance  of  allying  ourselves  with  the  good  spirit. 
There  is  no  absolute  line  of  separation  to  be  traced. 
The  religious  man  has  a  vast  pre-eminence  in  religion  ; 
but  he  need  not  think  that  others  are  wholly  destitute 
of  it.  Least  of  all  need  he  sit  passive  until  by  some 
convulsion  of  nature  the  hearts  of  men  are  changed. 
If  his  religion  be  true,  it  will  show  itself,  not  only  or 
chiefly  in  those  good  qualities  which  make  him 
different  from  others,  but  in  those  which  are  simplest, 
most  obvious,  most  universal.  His  image  is  not  that 
of  a  Galahad  urged  by  an  ecstacy  of  devotion  to 
pursue  the  Holy  Grail  till  he  is  lost  to  human  sight 
in  regions  where  men  cannot  follow,  but  an  Arthur 
surrounded  by  valiant  men,  redressing  human 
wrong,  and  leading  the  way  into  the  better  land  of 
righteousness. 

And  this  is  true  also  in  reference  to  the  diversities 


Election  and  Privilege^  in  Religion.  141 


of  religious  opinion  or  culture  which  to  some  men  are 
so  great  a  stumbling-block,  and  which  have  often 
been  so  dealt  with  that  they  have  hindered  the 
progress  of  true  religion.  Some  have  viewed  these 
differences  as  fundamental,  and,  taking  sides  in  the 
conflict  engendered  by  them,  have  made  all  religion 
to  turn  on  the  points  of  difference  ;  while  others  have 
regarded  the  points  of  difference  as  so  entirely  un- 
essential that  they  would  obliterate  them,  and  leave 
to  us  only  the  pale  and  peaceful  image  of  a  colourless 
religion.  The  principle  I  have  advocated  to-day 
solves  the  difficulty.  Each  opinion,  or  sect,  or  school, 
or  church,  if  we  look  at  it  impartially,  has  at  least 
some  element  of  good  in  it.  Its  distinguishing 
feature  is,  at  least  in  its  origin,  an  inspiration,  a  reve- 
lation of  truth  in  some  new  aspect,  to  be  dealt  with 
not  only  with  tenderness,  but  with  reverence,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  words  *'  Quench  not  the  Spirit."  But,  if 
it  is  to  be  fruitful,  it  must  communicate  itself,  and 
that  not  only  to  the  first  nucleus  of  specially  called 
disciples  ;  it  must  show  its  capacity  of  harmonising 
with  and  inspiring  the  life  of  mankind. 

A  great  responsibility  rests  upon  those  who  are 
introducing  any  new  aspect  of  truth  to  the  notice  of 
their  contemporaries.  Let  it  be  granted  that  the 
truth  they  have  before  them  is  pure  and  absolute, 
that  the  discovery  and  assertion  of  it  is  their  special 
privilege  ^nd  high  endowment ;  yet  it  must  not  be  so 
asserted  as  to  throw  blame  on  the  whole  life  of  the 
generation  in  which  it  emerges,  or   to  grow  into 


142         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

exaggerations  which  make  it  hardly  recognisable,  or 
to  dwarf  the  proportions  of  all  other  aspects  of  truth, 
or  to  form  its  adherents  into  a  narrow  coterie,  speak- 
ing a  language  unintelligible  to  their  brethren.  The 
possessors  of  truth  must  hold  it  under  this  condition 
— that  they  make  it  intelligible,  communicable  ;  that 
their  thoughts  range  in  sympathy  with  their  kind. 
They  are,  in  respect  of  their  own  way  of  thinking,  a 
kind  of  first-fruits.  They  are  not  to  enter  into  a 
closed  room,  and  take  the  key  from  the  door,  while 
they  sit  with  their  friends  at  the  banquet  of  truth, 
and  mock  at  or  sigh  over  the  vulgar  herd  outside. 
The  mysteries  of  the  Gospel  are  free  to  all  mankind. 
The  door  must  be  left  wide  open,  and  those  within 
must  issue  forth  and  welcome  all  to  share  their  trea- 
sure. They  must  not  reach  their  point  by  overbear- 
ing others  or  taking  from  them  the  truths,  distorted 
though  they  may  be,  on  which  till  then  they  have 
been  leaning  ;  nor  must  they  expect  that  the  task  of 
convincing  the  world  will  be  performed  easily  and 
quickly  by  a  few  valiant  words.  But  they  may  hope 
that  after  a  life  of  toil  they  may  have  the  proud 
consciousness  that  they  have  added  to  the  sum  of 
true  conviction,  that  they  have  been  helpers  of  the 
angels  of  God's  mercy  and  truth  in  gathering  in 
the  harvest  of  the  earth. 

What  we  need  is  a  religion  which  will  reconcile, 
not  divide;  which  will  introduce  a  divine  harmony 
where  hitherto  there  has  been  separation.  I  quote 
here  words  which  are  not  less  needed  now  than  when 


Election  and  Privilege  in  Religion.  143 


they  were  first  published  by  one  amongst  us  tAvent}'- 
four  years  ago: — "The  God  of  peace  rest  upon  you, 
is  the  concluding  benediction  of  most  of  the  Epistles. 
How  can  he  rest  upon  us,  who  draw  so  many  hard 
lines  of  demarcation  between  ourselves  and  other 
men,  who  oppose  the  Church  and  the  world,  Sundays 
and  working  days,  revelation  and  science,  the  past 
and  the  present,  the  life  and  state  of  which  religion 
speaks,  and  the  life  which  we  ordinarily  lead  ?  .  .  . 
If  in  the  age  of  the  Apostle  it  seemed  to  be  the  duty 
of  the  believers  to  separate  themselves  from  the  world 
^and  take  up  a  hostile  position,  not  less  marked  in  the 
present  age  is  the  duty  of  abolishing  in  a  Christian 
country  what  has  now  become  an  artificial  distinction, 
and  seeking  by  every  means  in  our  power,  by  fairness, 
by  truthfulness,  by  knowledge,  by  love  unfeigned,  by 
the  absence  of  party  and  prejudice,  by  acknowledging 
the  good  in  all  things,  to  reconcile  the  Church  to  the 
world,  the  one  half  of  our  nature  to  the  other  ; 
drawing  the  mind  off  from  speculative  difficulties,  or 
matters  of  party  and  opinion,  to  that  which  all 
equally  acknowledge,  and  almost  equally  fall  short  of 
—the  life  of  Christ." 

I  only  add  to  these  eloquent  words,  the  aim  of 
which  must  be  unreservedly  accepted,  that  the  con- 
summation to  which  they  point  cannot  be  attained 
merely  by  ignoring  the  differences  or  distinctions 
which  have  divided  men  ;  but  by  giving  to  these 
distinctions  their  legitimate  place.  That  place  is  not 
to  be  absolute,  or  supreme,  or  enduring,  but  to  be  the 


144  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

means  of  impressing  upon  the  whole  community  some 
aspect  of  truth  or  goodness  which  they  would  other- 
wise be  tempted  to  forget.  The  Sunday  is  taken  as 
the  first-fruits  of  the  week,  in  order  that  it  may 
breathe  the  rest  of  God  upon  the  world, 

'*  Till  all  both  rest  day  and  employ, 
Be  one  Lord's  day  of  holy  joy." 

The  Church  is  called  as  an  elect  body,  in  order 
that  through  it  the  whole  world  may  become  the 
kingdom  of  God.  The  priesthood  or  ministry  is  to 
be  the  means  by  which  all  are  to  become  priests 
and  ministers  through  the  diffusion  of  self-sacrifice 
throughout  the  whole  community.  Let  us  so  use 
whatever  privilege  or  pre-eminence,  whatever  dis- 
tinctions of  character,  of  culture,  of  discernment,,  of 
faith  we  may  possess,  not  so  as  to  emphasise  or 
perpetuate  such  distinctions,  but  so  that  whatever 
is  good  in  them  may  become  the  universal  inherit- 
ance, that  the  Christianity  of  our  day  may  be  the 
first-fruits  of  a  world  which  we  are  fellow-workers 
with  God  in  bringing  back  to  Himself,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 


V 

iffn'tical  Ct/ousbt  ana  ^practical  MM^txn^ 


J 


V 

Critiral  Cftougbt  anii  ^Srartiral  iHimsitrp. 

{Preached  before  the  University  of  Oxford^  May  30,  1880,) 


"Vanity  of  vanities,  saith  the  preacher,  all  is  vanity.  And  more- 
over, because  the  preacher  was  wise,  he  still  taught  the  people  know- 
ledge ;  yea,  he  gave  good  heed,  and  sought  out,  and  set  in  order  many 
proverbs.  The  preacher  sought  to  find  out  acceptable  words  :  and  that 
which  was  written  was  upright,  even  words  of  truth." — EcCLES.  xii.  8, 
9,  10. 


I  WISH  in  this  sermon  to  draw  a  lesson  from  the 
Book  of  Ecclesiastes  which  is  not  very  commonly 
drawn  —  namely,  the  connection  between  critical 
thought  and  practical  ministry.  I  need  not  point  out 
that  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  is  tinged  with  critical 
thought  in  almost  every  sentence.  It  has  been  called, 
not  wrongly,  a  sceptical  book.  The  temper  of  the 
writer  is  not  that  of  the  man  who  trusts,  who  readily 
gives  himself,  but  of  one  who  examines,  who  looks 
narrowly  at  each  idea,  each  project  ;  one  whose 
monotonous  refrain  borders  on  despair:  "Vanity  of 
vanities,  all  is  vanity."  It  has  often  been  observed 
that  this  despair  is  not  final ;  men  have  pointed  to  the 
words,  "Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter,  Fear  God  and  keep  his  commandments,  for 

J2 


148         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man."  They  have,  perhaps, 
gone  as  far  as  to  note  the  kind  of  approval  which  the 
writer  gives,  still  in  a  semi-sceptical  vein,  to  a  calm 
and  hopeful  beneficence.  Cast  thy  bread  upon  the 
waters  and  thou  shalt  find  it  after  many  days."  But 
what  has  rarely  been  dwelt  upon  is  the  effort  evi- 
dently made  by  the  preacher  in  this  last  chapter  to 
show  that  he  is  speaking  neither  at  hazard,  nor  only 
in  gloomy  monologue,  but  that  he  has  a  distinct  pur- 
pose of  edification  in  what  he  says.  He  insists  that 
with  all  his  sceptical  thought  he  yet  is  a  preacher,  one 
who  seeks  to  do  men  good  by  the  use  of  earnest 
words  ;  he  declares  that  all  his  life  long  he  was 
occupying  himself  in  teaching  the  people  knowledge, 
and  that  he  did  this  strenuously,  continuously  ;  and, 
moreover,  that  he  did  not  fling  out  his  doubts  with  a 
view  to  distress  men,  or  in  a  way  which  might  alienate 
them  from  the  truth,  but  that  he  sought  acceptable 
words,  that  which  was  honest  indeed  and  upright,  but 
that  which,  at  the  same  time,  would  convey  the  truth 
sympathetically  and  congenially  to  his  hearers.  The 
teaching  which  this  passage  suggests  to  us  is  this — 
that  critical  thought  is  not  necessarily  unsympathetic 
or  forbidding,  but  that  it  has  a  real  affinity  with 
those  purposes  of  edification  for  which  the  ministry  of 
souls  exists.  We  are  apt  to  represent  to  ourselves  this 
critical  thought  as  a  dangerous  being  without  a  con- 
science.. We  talk  of  a  remorseless  criticism,  of  cold 
and  colourless  reason,  of  negative  theology.  We  con- 
jure up  the  chilling  spectre  of  a  system  or  a  spirit 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  149 

which,  careless  of  the  pain  which  it  inflicts,  cuts  up  by 
the  roots  the  fair,  fond  flowers  of  hope,  makes  senti- 
ment ridiculous  and  aspiration  illusory,  trips  up  each 
effort  before  it  has  fairly  started,  and  stunts  all  gene- 
rous enterprise.  That  there  is  such  critical  thought  as 
this  cannot  be  denied ;  it  may  be  that  some  men  even 
feel  a  cruel  pleasure  in  the  pain  they  inflict  by  its 
exercise,  just  as  some  persons  delight  in  scenting 
heresy  in  the  works  of  conscientious  and  earnest  men. 
But  the  abuse  of  criticism  does  not  hinder  its  legiti- 
mate use.  Every  faculty  may  be  misused  or  may  be 
pressed  to  so  extreme  a  point  as  to  become  danger- 
ous, destructive,  and  self-stultifying.  But  criticism  has 
its  proper  place.  What  is  it  but  the  expression  of 
reason  and  of  truth  How  can  it  interfere  with  efforts 
to  do  good  }  If  there  is  anything  false,  or  one-sided, 
or  impracticable  in  such  efforts,  must  it  not  be  a 
benefit  to  them  to  be  corrected  t  If  they  contain  an 
element  which  is  illusory,  is  it  not  necessary  that  the 
illusions  should  gradually  be  brought  to  light  1  How 
can  an  army  advance  without  danger  if  it  has  no  in- 
telligence department }  When  the  last  word  of  criti- 
cism has  been  spoken,  it  still  remains  true  that  the 
object  of  life  is  love,  and  that  the  highest  duty  of  man 
during  the  span  of  his  existence  on  earth  is  to  minis- 
ter to  his  fellows,  and  add  to  the  sum  of  truth  and 
goodness  among  them  ;  and  it  also  remains  true  that, 
in  seeking  these  things,  faith  and  hope  are  his  stimulus 
and  his  guide. 

I  purpose  to  discuss  this  first,  in  general,  and 


150         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

secondly  in  reference  to  the  practical  wants  of  the 
present  day. 

I. — It  is  sometimes  accepted  as  an  axiom,  and  that 
not  by  one  side  alone,  that  a  theology  which  contains 
much  of  negation  tends  to  become  no  theology  at  all ; 
that  if  you  begin  to  touch  the  fabric  of  existing 
beliefs,  and  to  say,  this  is  exaggerated,  this  is  not 
scriptural,  this  is  expressed  too  strongly,  this  is  not 
so  certain  as  you  imagine,  you  are  really  meaning 
to  break  down  the  whole  fabric.  An  uncomfortable 
feeling  of  uncertainty  is  aroused,  and  men  begin  to 
feel  as  if  all  that  was  precious  was  being  torn  from 
them.  But,  you  say,  "  All  that  I  am  telling  you 
is  true.  Do  you  not  admit  that  my  criticisms  are 
just  .'^  "  When  men  are  thus  driven,  they  are  inclined 
to  reply,  "  We  cannot  be  troubled  with  arguments  ; 
we  want  to  do  good,  to  enjoy  our  religion,  to  preserve 
the  fabric  of  our  belief  and  our  life  intact."  Thus  we 
have  an  antagonism  set  up  between  the  spirit  of 
criticism  and  the  spirit  of  practical  good.  And  this 
putting  aside  of  pious  and  practical  aims  is  often 
accepted  as  necessary  by  men  of  critical  minds :  or, 
if  they  see  the  value  of  practical  good,  they  hold  their 
critical  faculties  in  one  hand  and  their  piety  in  the 
other,  so  that  the  two  do  not  come  near  each  other. 
There  is  a  saying  of  a  great  critic  of  the  origins  of 
Christianity,  that  criticism  founds  nothing,  that 
fanaticism  alone  is  creative.  If  that  were  true,  we 
might  well  say,  as  that  same  writer  has  said  with 
reference  to  another  subject,  that  God  and  nature  had 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  151 

deceived  us  :  for  what  deception  could  be  so  great 
as  that  our  deepest  affection  should  urge  us  on  a  path 
which  truthful  criticism  would  show  to  be  wrong  ? 
We  may  be  sure  that  Christianity,  the  mother  of  all 
reconciliation,  contains  within  its  capacious  bosom  the 
connecting  principle  which  will  allay  this  apparent 
antagonism,  an  antagonism  which,  if  it  be  not 
allayed,  can  hardly  prove  anything  short  of  deadly. 

It  is  not  true  that  a  negative  theology  is  merely 
and  simply  negative.  Not  only  do  .the  widest 
negations  ever  made  by  sane  men  leave  room  still 
for  the  life  of  love  and  goodness  to  spring  up,  but 
many  negations  are  requisite  in  every  age  in  order  to 
bring  into  due  prominence  the  central  truth  on  which 
such  a  life  is  founded.  If  it  be  the  fact  that  some- 
thing of  fanaticism  has  often  been  mixed  with  the 
founding  of  great  institutions,  it  is  also  the  fact  that 
what  the  fanatical  element  has  built  requires  to  be 
pulled  down  again  and  rebuilt  upon  a  more  solid 
foundation.  And  it  may  be  said  with  truth  that  the 
greatest  founders  have  been  also  the  greatest  des- 
troyers. You  must  clear  away  the  rubbish  before 
you  can  begin  to  build.  Let  us  draw  out  these 
propositions  somewhat  more  fully. 

I.  There  is  an  impression  which  is  very  com- 
monly countenanced  in  religious  teaching,  that  there  is 
more  danger  from  the  negation'  of  truth  than  from 
the  affirmation  of  error  ;  at  ieast,  that  to  detract  from 
truth  is  a  much  more  dangerous  thing  than  to 
exaggerate  it.    It  is  a  great  mistake  to  compare  two 


152         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

processes  equally  false,  and  to  give  the  preference  to 
one  over  the  other.  Yet  this  is  what  we  are  con- 
stantly tempted  to  do.  We  take  some  extreme, 
exaggerated  system,  and  say,  "  At  least  in  this  the 
truth  is  confessed,  while  those  who  resist  it  are 
denying  the  truth  altogether."  But  it  is  at  least 
doubtful  whether  it  is  worse  to  deny  the  truth 
altogether  than  to  affirm  it  in  a  form  which  by 
exaggeration  perverts  it.  To  take  an  extreme  case, 
which  may*  bring  into  relief  what  it  is  here  sought 
to  enforce.  Suppose  yourself  to  have  been  living 
amongst  the  worshippers  of  Moloch,  and  suppose 
one  bold  man  to  have  arisen  and  maintained  that 
there  is  no  God  ;  you  would  hardly  have  thought 
it  right  to  assert  that  it  was  better  to  hold  with  the 
worshippers  of  Moloch,  because  they  confessed  a  God, 
though  a  monstrous  one.  You  would  feel  that  in  all 
probability  the  man  who  under  such  circumstances 
had  the  courage  to  call  himself  an  Atheist  was  a 
better  man  than  the  votaries  of  a  God  of  cruelty  ; 
and  you  would  remain  of  this  opinion,  notwith- 
standing that  it  might  be  pointed  out  that  the 
worshippers  of  Moloch  were  supported  by  the 
enthusiasm  of  a  united  people,  and  that  their 
enthusiastic  belief  was  accompanied  by  self-devotion 
and  eager  convictions,  and  the  readiness  to  endure 
as  well  as  to  inflict  pain,  and  the  building  of  magni- 
ficent temples,  and  the  collection  of  vast  multitudes 
at  their  religious  rites.  You  would  say,  "  The 
affirmation  of  a  cruel  God  is  false  and  hateful ; 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  153 


and  he  that  denies  the  divine  altogether  cannot  be 
more  false."  The  most  extreme  negation  is  really 
the  correction,  often  the  needful  correction,  of  the 
extreme  and  untruthful  affirmation. 

What  we  have  to  deal  with  is,  of  course,  a  much 
more  subtle  thing  than  this.  But  the  principle  still 
holds,  that  exaggeration  mars  truth  as  much  as  does 
negation.  When  superstitions  grow  up  beside  a 
truth,  they  are  like  the  parasitical  growths  of  the 
forests  of  South  America,  which  appear  to  be  parts  of 
the  trees  to  which  they  cling,  but  encircle  them  and 
overtop  them,  and  in  the  end  strangle  them.  l£  is 
not  true  that  you  can  have  an  important  truth  mixed 
up  with  superstitions,  and  yet  unimpaired.  The 
superstitions  come  to  be  looked  upon  as  of  equal 
value  with  the  truth,  and  the  result  is  that  first  the 
truth  is  degraded  to  the  level  of  the  superstitions, 
and  then  the  superstitions  become  everything,  and 
the  truth  well  nigh  disappears.  When  a  negative 
criticism  comes  in  on  a  scene  like  this,  and  argues  or 
laughs  away  the  superstitions,  it  seems,  no  doubt, 
as  if  nothing  were  left.  The  Anthropomorphist  monk 
of  the  Egyptian  desert,  when  he  was  told  that  the 
Church  of  Alexandria  had  affirmed  that  we  could 
think  of  God  otherwise  than  as  having  hands  and 
feet,  exclaimed,  "  You  have  taken  away,  you  have 
destroyed  my  God."  But  in  truth  the  negation  is  a~ 
liberating  process,  and  when  criticism  has  done  its 
work,  there  is  room,  which  there  was  not  before,  lor  the 
truth  to  arise  and  grow.   The  greatest  negations  have 


154         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

commonly  had  an  affirmation  which  they  presup- 
posed ;  and  movements,  Hke  that  of  Protestantism, 
which  have  a  negative  name,  have  really  been  the 
reassertion  of  great  principles.  The  old  question, 
"  Where  was  your  Church  before  Luther  ? "  might  be 
met  with  another,  "  Where  were  truth,  and  goodness, 
and  living  faith,  in  the  Church  of  the  i6th  century, 
till  Luther  arose  to  revive  and  disengage  them  ? " 

But  it  is  said  with  truth  that  a  certain  superstition, 
or  extra  belief,  is  often  a  kind  of  natural  integument 
of  faith ;  that  there  are  illusions  which  are  really 
educational;  that  the  husk  and  the  rind  are  necessary 
to  the  growth  of  the  fruit.  We  may  well  admit  this 
as  true  ;  but  it  makes  the  demand  for  criticism  all  the 
more  pressing.  For  that  which  is  merely  educational 
is  meant  to  pass  away,  the  illusion  must  give  place  to 
the  reality.  Men  are  apt  to  cling  to  the  past,  and 
make  much  of  the  form  after  it  has  ceased  to  be  real ; 
and  the  function  of  criticism  is  to  point  this  out,  to 
help  the  natural  process  by  which  the  reason  and 
conscience  of  mankind  by  degrees  emerge  from  their 
childish  integuments. 

And  even  where  negation  seems  barest,  you  may 
often  see  that  it  is  really  directed  against  the  integu- 
ment which  ought  to  pass  away,  not  against  the  truth 
which  is  destined  to  remain.  There  are  many  who 
seem  to  be  Atheists,  while  what  they  are  really  deny- 
ing is  not  the  existence  of  God  but  a  peculiar  pre- 
sumption as  to  the  mode  of  His  existence.  There  is 
a  kind  of  mechanical  conception  of  the  operation  of 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  155 

the  Deity,  on  which  all  religion  is  apt  to  be  staked, 
the  conception  of  a  God  who  interferes  from  without 
with  the  orderly  evolution  of  nature  and  humanity. 

I  see  no  trace  of  such  interference,"  says  the  man  of 
science  ;  such  a  God  as  this  is  abhorrent  to  all  our 
experience."  He  seems  to  be  denying  God.  What 
he  is  really  doing  is  to  clear  the  way  for  a  truer  and 
more  living  conception  of  the  Divine  operations,  the 
conception  of  a  God  who  is  immanent  in  His  crea- 
tures, and  who  works,  in  some  manner  beyond  the 
measure  of  our  thoughts,  in  and  through  nature  and 
mankind. 

It  is  true,  again,  that  there  are  accompaniments  of 
faith  which  are  harmless,  perhaps  indispensable.  But 
the  danger  is  a  real  one  that  these  accompaniments 
come  to  be  placed  on  an  equality  with  faith  and 
virtue,  and  that,  \vhen  this  comes  to  pass,  the  accom- 
paniments are  apt  to  remain  in  full  vigour  while  faith 
and  virtue  take  the  second  place,  and  at  last  are 
ignored.  Our  Lord  pronounced  a  woe  upon  those 
who,  by  tithing  mint  and  anise  and  cumin,  had 
come  to  neglect  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law. 
^  He  did  not  indeed  forbid  these  smaller  observances, 
but  He  denied  them  any  place  at  all  in  comparison 
with  judgment  and  mercy  and  the  love  of  God.  And 
the  voice  of  God  Himself  is  as  often  heard  in  negation 
as  in  affirmation.  The  commandments  are  almost  all 
negations.  Thou  shalt  have  none  other  God  beside 
me.  Thou  shalt  worship  no  graven  image.  These 
are  the  great  negations  of  God,  and  from  under  their 


Thl  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


indispensable  protest  comes  forth  the  great  affirma- 
tion,— Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart. 

2.  Now,  examine  for  a  moment  the  statement 
which  is  supposed  to  be  historical — that  critical 
thought  founds  nothing,  that  fanaticism  is  needed 
for  all  construction.  Contrast  with  it  that  which 
has  been  said  above,  that  what  has  been  built  by 
fanaticism  requires  to  be  taken  down  and  recon- 
structed. 

Take  the  example  of  Mahometanism,  which  has 
been  one  of  the  most  stupendous  creations  of  a 
fanatical  impulse  that  the  world  has  even  seen. 
There  was  indeed  an  original  truth  at  its  base,  the 
assertion  of  the  one  supreme  God  alike  against 
heathen  and  Christian  idolatry :  but  side  by  side  with 
this  grew  up  the  fabric  of  the  all-conquering  empire 
of  the  Caliphs,  of  a  sensual  paradise,  of  a  ritual  which, 
if  not  so  complex  as  those  of  some  parts  of  Christen- 
dom, is  much  more  binding  and  more  superstitious, 
and  of  a  system  of  laws  which,  though  but  partially 
moral,  are  all  incorporated  into  the  Divine.  Does 
any  one  now  believe  that  this  system  can  last,  or  that  it  • 
enshrines  any  principle  of  permanent  benefit  to  man- 
kind }  If  some  men  cherish  the  hope  that  it  may  be 
reformed,  the  fanaticism  which  pushed  it  forward  is 
the  precise  thing  which  prevents  the  fulfilment  of 
their  hopes  ;  for  a  system  which  professes  itself  to  be 
divine  in  all  its  details  must  remain  irreformable. 
And  IMahometanism  is  becoming  a  curse  to  all  who 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  157 

lie  under  its  baneful  shade ;  a  thing  which  is  fast 
growing  impossible,  and  is  doomed. 

Take  as  another  example  the  ascetic  tendency 
which  developed  itself  in  the  Christian  Church  from 
the  fourth  century  onwards.  It  is  said  that  it  was  a 
needful  protest  against  the  immorality  of  the  Roman 
world.  If  it  had  been  only  that,  its  leaders  would 
have  distinguished,  like  St.  Paul,  between  the  present 
distress  and  the  natural  order  of  God's  providence. 
But  they  made  no  such  distinction.  They  built  upon 
the  fanatical  belief  that  family  life  was  an  evil,  or  at 
least  an  inferior  state,  that  the  common  order  of  the 
world  must  be  given  over  to  Satan,  that  all  the  joy,  and 
beauty,  and  refinement  of  life  must  be  under  a  ban  ; 
and  what  they  built  had  from  the  first  quite  as  much 
in  it  of  curse  as  of  blessing  ;  it  was  the  parent  of  mis- 
understandings and  corruptions  from  which  religion 
is,  even  now,  but  slowly  emerging  ;  and  in  process  of 
time  it  has  become  almost  wholly  mischievous.  The 
fanatical  element,  so  far  from  being  the  strength  of 
Christian  monasticism,  has  been  that  which  prevented 
its  doing  good,  and  has  ensured  its  destruction. 

You  may  see  the  same  thing  in  respect  of  the 
fanatical  exaggerations  of  more  modern  times.  In 
the  revolutionary  mania  in  France,  in  1793,  some- 
thing, no  doubt,  was  founded — a  system  of  forced 
equality,  combined  with  a  hatred  of  all  that  bore  the 
stamp  of  the  ancien  regime.  .But  the  fanaticism  by 
which  this  system  was  supported  was  not  its  strength, 
but  the  cause  of  its  ruin.    It  urged  it  into  cruelty, 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life, 


into  public  Atheism,  into  the  violence  of  the  Jacobin 
and  the  Sans-culotte  ;  and  when  the  reaction  swiftly 
came,  there  was  great  danger  lest  even  the  more 
valuable  products  of  the  Revolution  should  be  lost. 
Or  take  the  reactionary'  mania  which  followed  the  wars 
of  the  Revolution,  and  was  expressed  in  men  like 
]\Ietternich.  ]Metternich  had  a  system  which  for  some 
fifteen  years  dominated  Europe,  and  which  he  believed 
to  be  divine  and  permanent.  But  it  was  a  fanatical 
travesty  of  that  spirit  of  godly  order  which  it  pre- 
tended to  represent.  Was  this  fanaticism  the  means 
of  building  up  a  permanent  home  for  that  godly 
order  ?  On  the  contrary,  his  system  fell  to  pieces 
even  during  the  lifetime  of  its  author,  and  so  far  as  it 
endured,  was  an  incessant  provocative  to  revolution, 
in  which  all  that  he  held  dear  was  endangered. 

It  may  be  true  that  mankind  has  hitherto  ad- 
vanced by  means  of  antagonisms  and  fanatical  exag- 
gerations which  have  clashed  with  each  other  and, 
like  forces  pulling  slantwise  from  different  sides,  have 
drawn  on  the  central  mass.  W'e  must  not  be  hard 
upon  the  past :  we  may  say  "  The  times  of  that 
ignorance  God  winked  at."  But  the  time  is  come 
when  we  must  attend  to  the  real  progress  of  mankind, 
and  discountenance  the  fanatical  exaggerations  which 
the  past  has  bequeathed  to  us.  The  place  of  critical 
thought  must  be  re-asserted.  There  is  a  power  in 
moderation,  and  truth,  and  equity,  which  the  world  is 
only  now  beginning  to  recognise.  There  is  a  reason- 
able religion  which  eschews  exaggeration,  and  which 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  159 

is  none  the  less  the  parent  of  a  sober  and  earnest 
piety.  There  is  a  faculty  which  is  certainly  not  the 
least  Christ-like  of  our  powers,  which  looks  at  both 
sides  of  a  matter,  which  puts  aside  what  is  extreme 
and  absurd,  and  acknowledges  that,  beyond  all  dis- 
puted questions,  the  purifying  and  ennobling  of 
human  life  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ  remains  as  the 
great  object  of  our  efforts.  Will  it  be  said  that  Christ 
was  a  fanatic  ?  Will  it  be  said  that  even  St.  Paul  was 
one  It  is  surely  astonishing  to  find  that  there  are 
critics  who  still  look  upon  St.  Paul  as  a  one-sided 
partisan.  Is  it  not  he  who  said  "  Circumcision  is 
nothing-,  and  uncircumcision  is  nothing,  but  faith  that 
worketh  by  love  "  Is  it  not  he  who  urged  "  Let 
your  moderation  be  known  unto  all  men  ? "  The 
Christian  Church  is  the  greatest  of  human  institu- 
tions. What  student  of  its  origin  can  say  that  it 
owes  its  birth  to  fanaticism  ? 

3.  But  h^e  we  touch  the  kernel  of  the  question. 
In  our  Lord  Himself  we  may  venture  to  say,  with 
perfect  reverence,  that  we  find  in  its  purest  form  the 
combination  we  are  seeking  of  critical  thought  with 
pastoral  activity.  He  was  not  indifferent  or  over- 
mild.  He  did  not  accept  things  as  they  were.  His 
energy  was  spent  not  on  promoting  a  pietistic  acqui- 
escence, but  in  the  criticism  of  existing  institutions. 
He  came  to  revolutionise  the  world.  He  cast  a  seed 
amongst  mankind  which  He  knew  would  in  its  growth 
produce  enormous  changes.  And  He  set  about  these 
changes  with  what  we  need  not  scruple  to  call  a 


1 60         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

destructive  vehemence.  The  upHfted  scourge  in  the 
hand  of  the  Saviour  expressed  a  true  part  of  His 
character.  The  invectives  against  the  Pharisees 
swept  away  a  whole  system  of  life  with  their  scathing 
criticism.  And  those  who  from  a  Pharisaic  point  of 
view  looked  upon  his  teaching  would  see  in  it  some- 
thing even  more  negative  than  this.  In  all  His 
teaching  on  morals  and  religion  there  was  not  one 
word  about  the  obligation  of  the  ceremonial  law,  or 
the  temple  services,  or  the  meetings  in  the  syna- 
gogues, with  which  the  Jewish  religion  was  bound  up. 
All  this  was  simply  ignored,  and  ignoring  by  a 
winning  and  influential  teacher  is  the  surest  form  of 
condemnation.  It  is,  to  use  the  phrase  of  Roman 
law,  the  antiquation  of  that  which  is  put  aside.  It 
was  this,  no  doubt,  more  than  anything  else,  which 
influenced  the  Pharisees  to  destroy  Him.  And  then 
came  St.  Paul,  more  trenchant  and  pointed  in  his 
negativism,  saying  expressly  that  circumcision  and 
the  law  in  its  widest  sense  were  absolutely  indifferent ; 
and  not  only  so,  but  that  they  might  become,  if  more 
adhered  to  them,  the  very  source  of  evil  :  "  The 
strength  of  sin  is  the  law."  If  we  place  ourselves  in 
the  position  of  Jews  of  the  first  century,  we  can 
imagine  how  St.  Paul  seemed  to  them  a  violent  revo- 
lutionist.  As  such  he  appeared  to  the  Judaizing 
author  of  the  Clementines.  And  yet  it  is  certain 
that  the  churches  of  St.  Paul  were  not  founded  on  a 
violent,  one-sided  negativism.  We  have  but  to  refer 
to  the  earnestness  of  his  efforts  in  the  cause  of  con- 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  i6i 

ciliation  as  shown  in  the  collection  for  the  poor  saints 
at  Jerusalem,  or  in  the  controversy  about  the  eating 
of  things  offered  to  idols,  to  see  that  the  picture 
given  in  the  Acts  is  true,  and  that  that  which  St. 
Paul  was  aiming  at  throughout  was  the  spiritual  good 
of  both  sections  of  the  early  Church.  He  threw 
himself  on  the  side  where  the  weight  of  his  influence 
was  most  needed,  like  a  rhetorician  who  brings  into 
prominence  that  side  of  the  question  which  most 
needs  to  be  impressed.  But  the  rhetorician  may  still 
be  perfectly  truthful,  earnest  for  good  in  every  sense, 
while  yet  he  applies  himself  specially  to  impress  one 
side  of  it  alone.  And  St.  Paul,  while  vehement  in  his 
denunciation  of  Judaizers,  was  aiming  as  a  faithful 
pastor  at  the  spiritual  good  of  all.  Deeper  far  than 
any  denunciation  is  the  heart-felt  desire :  I  pray 
God  that  your  whole  body,  and  soul,  and  spirit  may 
be  preserved  blameless  to  the  coming  of  Christ."  We 
may  safely  take  our  Lord  and  His  chief  Apostle  as 
our  example  in  the  attempt  to  combine  critical 
thought  with  practical  ministry. 

n. — Let  us  now  come  more  to  the  facts  of  our  own 
day,  and  apply  what  has  been  said  to  our  actual 
needs. 

In  the  present  day  critical  and  negative  thought 
has  become  a  factor  with  which  every  teacher  must 
count.  But  it  need  cause  us  no  alarm  if  only  it  is 
sincere  and  reasonable.  We  may  welcome  it,  if  it  be 
such,  as  an  ally  in  our  efforts  for  the  good  of  men. 

Take  an  extreme  case,  that  of  one  who  calls 
K 


t62         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

himself  an  Agnostic.  He  says,  "I  do  not  see  that 
we  have  light  enough  to  affirm  anything  about  God 
or  immortality."  He  points  out  that  the  arguments 
on  such  subjects  are  derived  from  sentiment  rather 
than  strict  reasoning.  He  persists  in  leaving  all  the 
great  affirmations  of  the  Christian  creeds  undecided. 
We  may  quite  admit  that  such  a  man  can  hardly 
enter  the  Christian  ministry,  where  declarations  of 
his  faith  are  required  of  him  such  as  will  give  con- 
fidence to  the  congregation  to  which  he  is  to  minister. 
But  he  may,  nevertheless,  earnestly  desire  to  act 
rightly  and  also  to  do  good  to  men.  Moreover,  the 
Agnostic  may  possibly  see  some  sides  of  Christian 
work  more  clearly  than  many  who  seem  more  certain. 
He  may,  from  the  very  fact  that  he  is  unable  to 
assert  anything  distinct  about  another  world,  appre- 
ciate more  fully  the  importance  of  justice  and 
goodness  in  this  world.  Nay,  it  is  possible  that  he 
may  be  of  a  genuinely  humble  temperament,  and 
may  say  to  himself,  "  If  it  is  my  misfortune  to  be 
unable  to  lay  hold  of  God  and  immortality,  I  will 
bear  the  uncertainty  without  murmuring ;  if  it  is  my 
fault,  I  will  endeavour  so  to  act  that  better  light  may 
come  to  me.  If  there  be  indeed  nothing  beyond,  still 
the  moral  side  of  the  Christian  life  is  the  truest 
standard  that  I  can  follow.  Let  me,  like  Christ,  go 
about  doing  good."  Because  Christian  doctrines  are 
not  matters  of  scientific  certainty,  it  does  not  follow 
that  they  cannot  be  held  as  matters  of  faith  and 
hope ;  and  Agnosticism  still  leaves  room  for  faith 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  163 

and  hope  :  and  it  is  in  the  region  of  faith  and  hope, 
not  in  that  of  ascertained  fact,  that  our  salvation  is  to 
be  found.  Special  attention  has  been  called  of  late 
to  the  Reflections  of  the  Emperor  ]\Iarcus  Aurelius. 
We  find  in  that  book  many  thoughts  of  the  kind  I 
have  just  expressed.  He  makes  sure  of  nothing ; 
only  he  assumes  for  the  most  part,  with  a  kind  of 
childlike  hopefulness,  that  the  Power  which  rules  us 
is  just  and  good  ;  and  in  the  patient  acquiescence  in 
the  dominion  of  that  Power,  whatever  it  may  be,  and 
whatever  may  be  his  own  individual  destiny,  he  sets 
to  work  to  purge  himself  of  lust  and  anger,  to  be 
humble,  brave,  gentle,  compassionate,  and  to  do  good, 
— an  endeavour  the  success  of  which  is  proved  by  the 
perfect  correspondence  of  the  history  of  his  reign 
v.dth  the  motives  which  his  book  reveals,  and  by  the 
twenty  years'  happiness  which  his  career  gave  to  the 
Roman  world.  Let  us  not  refuse  the  Agnostic  who 
wishes  to  do  good,  but  welcome  him  as  a  fellow- 
worker. 

And  are  there  not  many  who  w^orship  in  our 
congregations  who  all  their  life  are  perplexed  vWth 
doubts,  like  those  expressed  in  the  book  of  Eccle- 
siastes,  who  feel  that  the  affirmations  of  our  creeds  go 
far  beyond  their  convictions,  and  yet  are  attached  to 
our  worship,  not  by  mere  custom,  but  by  a  sincere 
longing  to  be  good  and  to  do  good  Shall  we  ban 
them  from  our  communion  by  exacting  as  a  pre- 
liminary condition  that  they  must  hold  as  unques- 
tionable every  fact  narrated  in  the  Bible  or  assumed 
K  2 


164         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

as  true  in  our  services  ?  I  cannot  think  that  our 
Lord  would  have  made  such  a  demand.  I  think  He 
would  have  said,  If  you  cannot  follow  me  yet  so  as 
to  trust  yourself  to  me  in  regions  beyond  human  ex- 
perience, yet  if  you  love  that  justice  and  goodness 
which  are  indeed  the  divine  nature,  I  count  you 
amongst  those  who  are  of  the  truth,  who  know  my 
voice,  and  are  my  true  subjects  ;  come,  go  in  and  out 
among  my  brethren  ;  in  time  you  shall  know  more 
of  me,  and  I  will  lead  you  into  realms  of  fuller 

light." 

Or,  once  more,  take  the  case  of  a  Christian 
minister  who  cannot  accept  the  perfect  certitude  with 
which  supernatural  things  are  sometimes  assumed. 
Is  he  to  say,  "  Since  I  have  some  doubts  from  time  to 
time,  and  the  heavenly  things  are  overclouded  to  my 
view,  therefore  I  must  give  up  the  ministry  and  cease 
to  teach  the  people  knowledge?"  By  no  means. 
These  doubts  may,  if  rightly  dealt  with,  keep  him 
humble  and  watchful.  Nay,  they  may  be  the  witness 
that  he  is  of  so  truthful  a  disposition  that  he  dares  not 
go  a  hair's-breadth  in  affirmation  beyond  his  convic- 
tions ;  and  he  may  do  more  by  his  truthfulness  in 
the  instruction  of  the  people  than  others  by  their 
assurance.  Nay  more,  such  a  man  may  be  really 
conceiving  divine  things  in  a  truer  way  than  those 
who  feel  a  fuller  assurance  ;  for  these  things  are  not 
matters  of  exact  demonstration  which  holds  good  for 
all  alike :  they  are  matters  rather  of  faith  and  hope, 
v/hich  by  patience  and  spiritual  apprehension  grow  to 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  165 

a  moral,  but  never  to  a  scientific,  certainty.  And  in 
this  life  of  patient  hopefulness  there  are  elements 
which  may,  through  human  sympathy,  come  home  to 
men's  souls  more  than  the  dogmatic  confidence  which 
so  often  meets  us  even  in  good  men,  and  so  often 
repels  us. 

The  ministry  of  the  Gospel  is  indeed  one  of  joyful 
confidence,  and  to  those  who  are  of  a  hopeful  dispo- 
sition such  a  temperament  as  that  of  the  Ecclesiast, 
or  of  the  Apostle  Thomas,  appears  uncongenial. 
But,  among  the  many  gifts,  all  of  which  have  their 
functions  in  the  perfect  Christian  body,  we  cannot 
deny  a  place  to  such  temperaments  as  these.  Let 
me  trace  out  some  of  the  benefits  which  the  ministry 
may  gain  from  them. 

I.  As  regards  efforts  for  the  amelioration  of  men. 
The  enthusiasm  of  Christian  workers  sometimes  out- 
runs moderation  and  prudence.  It  is  hard  for  us  to 
hear  a  plan  which  we  have  set  our  hearts  upon 
questioned  and  criticised.  Yet  this  criticism  is  very 
needful  ;  for  prudence  and  circumspection  are 
Christian  graces.  And  even  if  such  criticism  is 
discouraging,  the  discouragement  may  send  us  back 
to  search  into  the  principles  on  which  our  proposed 
action  rests,  and  the  plans  we  have  formed  :  and  if 
we  resolve  to  go  forward,  the  questioning  process  we 
have  gone  through  will  have  tended  to  deepen  our 
convictions  and  to  mature  our  projects.  The  Book 
of  Ecclesiastes  is  full  of  warnings  to  reformers.  It 
does  not  say  to  them,  the   world    does  not  need 


i66 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


reform  ;  but  it  bids  them  reflect  that  there  are 
many  things  which  are  crooked  and  can  never  be 
set  straight,  so  that  they  may  not  fret  at  the 
inevitable  ;  that  he  who  would  reform  must  lay 
his  plans  well  and  count  the  cost,  else  he  will  bring 
himself  and  his  projects  to  ruin  :  it  bids  him 
remember  that  things  are  not  always  so  bad  as 
they  look  ;  and  that  they  will  often  right  themselves 
if  left  alone  ;  above  all,  that,  come  what  may,  he 
must  not  redress  wrong  by  wrong,  and  that  the 
spirit  of  rebellion  against  authority  must  be  resolutely 
suppressed.  Who  can  say  that  such  warnings  are 
not  needed,  or  that  if  listened  to  they  will  do  other 
than  conduce  to  the  efficiency  of  the  reformer's 
efibrts  ?  And  who  is  there  who  knows  the  beneficent 
works  of  Christians  in  the  present  day  who  does  not 
know  also  that  they  often  fail  for  lack  of  the  criticism 
of  which  we  have  spoken  ?  This  criticism  "may  serve 
to  enlighten  those  who  work,  and  to  direct  and 
concentrate  efforts  which  wo.'^d  otherwise  run  to 
waste  or  injure  those  whom  they  are  meant  to  benefit 
The  whole  question  of  the  relief  of  the  poor,  with  the 
fields  of  effort  lying  beside  it,  affords  a  good  illustra- 
tion of  this  process.  The  easy  benevolence  which 
prompts  the  prodigal  giving  of  out-door  relief  under 
the  poor  law,  the  impulsive  kindness  which  gives  to 
beggars  in  the  streets  and  to  the  poor  in  their  homes 
without  reflecting  on  the  moral  and  social  result  of 
the  gift,  have  produced  misery  and  degradation  and 
immorality  from  which  no  one  can  see  the  issue;  and  if 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  167 

the  feeling  which  prompted  these  gifts  is  to  be  called 
a  Christian  one,  much  more  truly  must  that  be  called 
Christian  which  aims  at  enlightening  and  directing 
relief,  so  that  it  may  reach  those  to  whom  it  will  do 
real  permanent  good,  the  thoughtful  and  critical 
spirit  which  has  produced  a  better  administration 
of  the  poor  law  and  has  established  the  societies  for 
the  organisation  of  charity. 

2.  Christian  teaching  needs  emphatically  the 
exercise  of  this  critical  spirit.  In  the  exposition  of 
the  Scriptures  how  vast  are  the  advantages  which 
have  been  gained  by  the  critical  handling  of  the 
Bible  during  the  last  300  years  ;  how  much  more 
complete  a  source  of  edification  have  the  sacred  books 
become  ;  how  much  more  real  they  have  become  by 
becoming  more  human  ;  how  much  more  clearly  does 
the  character  and  work  of  Christ  stand  out ;  how^ 
much  better  is  our  prospect  pf  dispelling  illusions  and 
needless  controversies.  In  Christian  teaching  all  the 
fuller  extension  and  ,application  of  Gospel  truth  lies 
in  that  sphere  in  whicn  the  critical  spirit  can  operate 
as  a  regulating  power.  It  is  well  to  preach  the 
elejpientary  truth  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins  ;  but  to 
guide  men  with  careful  judgment  into  a  holy  life  is 
better.  To  fan  their  hopes  of  immortality  is  right  ; 
but  so  also  is  it  right  to  show  them  how  to  live  as 
Christians  here.  It  is  a  Christian  thing  to  lead  men 
in  prayer  and  praise,  and  to  preach  to  them  ;  but  still 
more  is  it  a  Christian  thing  to  induce  them  to  conse- 
crate their  common  life,  day  by  day,  to  justice  and 


]68         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

purity,  to  steady  and  unselfish  labour.  If  a  sceptical 
and  desponding  temperament  sometimes  drives  us 
back  from  immortal  hopes  or  from  the  joy  of  uplifting 
prayer,  it  may  serve  to  make  us  appreciate  more  highly 
the  sanctity  of  plain  duties,  to  work  out  the  problem 
of  life  by  finding  the  moral  equivalents  of  those  high 
spiritual  feelings  to  which  for  the  time  we  cannot  attain. 

3.  As  regards  the  Christian  spirit,  much  of  the 
religion  of  our  day  is  tinged  with  an  unreal  sentiment 
and  evaporates  in  exaggeration  ;  much  is  tainted 
Avith  clericalism.  If  we  feel  these  evils  strongly,  how 
can  we  help  longing  that  they  may  be  purged  out  by 
that  which  the  prophet  called  "  The  spirit  of  judgment 
and  the  spirit  of  burning."  And  when  the  unreality 
and  the  clericalism  are  exposed  and  recognised  as 
evil,  if  men  should  feel  for  a  time  a  certain  mistrust  of 
all  high  spiritual  effort,  yet  the  same  sober  spirit  may 
come  in  and  say,  "The  blessed  life  is  still  open  before 
you,  and  Christ  is  still  its  source  and  His  spirit  pre- 
sides over  its  destinies.  Love  must  be  encouraged, 
social  good  must  be  pursued  ;  the  backward  classes 
must  be  raised,  the  degraded  nations  of  mankind 
must  be  instructed.  Education,  temperance,  sanitary 
welfare,  knowledge,  art,  refinement,  political  justice, 
must  be  pursued.  In  these  also  religion  lies ;  by 
means  of  these,  which  are  truly  Christian  efforts,  the 
world  may  be  won  to  God." 

I  entreat  those  who  love  Christ  not  to  be  alarmed 
by  the  critical  questioning  spirit  that  is  abroad,  but  to 
look  upon  it  as  at  least  a  possible  ally  of  the  practical 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  169 

ministry  of  the  Gospel.  Even  when  it  is  in  the  ex- 
treme, and  when  we  cannot  join  with  those  in  whom 
it  is  over-active,  we  may  yet  recognise  in  it  a  whole- 
some antidote  to  the  opposite  extremes  of  exagge- 
rated assertions,  of  hypocrisy  and  of  unreality.  But 
when  it  is  not  thus  extreme,  and  we  can  find  a  point 
of  contact  with  its  possessors,  let  us  welcome  it  as  a 
necessary  element  of  the  Christian  life.  Let  us  submit 
ourselves,  our  views^  our  plans  to  its  influence.  Let  us 
pray  not  only  that  our  faith  may  be  increased  and  our 
zeal  abound,  but  that,  by  the  pruning  process  of  criti- 
cism, our  faith  may  be  sobered  and  our  zeal  well  di- 
rected. So  the  questioning  spirit  may  help  us  to  do 
more  good. 

The  present  day  is  one  in  which  the  spirit  of  per- 
secution is  dormant,  if  not  dead.  No  one  has  the  in- 
tention of  provoking  the  persecutions  for  mere  opinion 
which  even  in  recent  times  have  agitated  the  Church. 
It  is  not  indifference  that  is  the  cause  of  this,  but 
rather  the  growing  belief  that  differences,  doubts,  even 
denials  are  often  the  expressions  of  the  deepest  con- 
viction. The  Church,  I  think,  is  unwilling  to  forego  the 
benefit  which  it  may  gaiii  from  spirits  of  a  more  criti- 
cal or  sceptical  tone  ;  and  every  one  now  is  at  liberty 
to  suj^mit  his  thoughts  to  his  fellow-churchmen  in 
frank  exchange  and  without  fear  of  blame,  so  long  as 
they  see  that  this  is  done  with  sincerity,  in  a  Christian 
spirit,  and  with  a  wish  to  do  good.  Let  us  seize  on 
the  happy  opportunity,  while  the  dogs  of  war  and  con- 
troversy are  asleep,  to  draw  together  those  tendencies 


lyo         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


which  ought  to  be  friends,  though  they  have  been  so 
long  parted  that  they  are  assumed  to  be  natural 
enemies — the  spirit  of  patient  and  laborious  criticism, 
and  the  spirit  of  patient  and  laborious  pastoral  ac- 
tivity. 

And  I  entreat  also  those  who  are  themselves 
prone  to  critical  inquiries,  and  are  of  a  somewhat 
sceptical  temper,  not  to  allow  this  to  draw  them  away 
from  Christian  usefulness  and  pastoral  activity.  It  is 
quite  certain  that  among  the  practical  people  of  Eng- 
land to  whom  duty  and  faith  are  real,  the  more  liberal 
ideas  in  theology  never  can  establish  themselves  unless 
they  are  found  to  result  in  some  distinct  moral  and 
religious  good.  And  for  this  we  do  not  require  to 
invent  some  new  system.  The  regular  parochial 
.system  of  our  Church,  which  embraces  every  English- 
man who  lives  within  the  parochial  boundaries,  and 
freely  invites  him,  without  any  curious  inquiry  into  his 
special  tenets,  to  act  as  a  Christian,  and  to  join  in 
good  works  for  the  benefit  of  all,  lends  itself  most 
readily  to  this  combination  of  a  less  dogmatic  theo- 
logy with  earnest  pastoral  activity,  if  only  it  be  ad- 
ministered in  a  liberal  and  hearty  spirit.  But  there  is 
in  many  persons  who  are  of  a  critical  temper  a  ten- 
dency of  mind  which  may  be  likened  to  low  spirits  in 
the  physical  organisation,  a  tendency  to  give  up  hope, 
and  with  hope  to  give  up  effort.  You  have  lost  your 
illusions,  you  say,  and  do  not  expect  all  the  good 
which  many  excellent  men  in  their  innocence  antici- 
pate.    No,  not  all  the  good ;  but  will  you  give  up  the 


Critical  Thought  and  Practical  Ministry.  171 

game,  and  let  all  the  evil  come  ?  You  cannot  do  all 
good,  but  you  may  do  some;  let  the  sense  of  frequent 
failure  not  make  you  despond,  but  stimulate  you  to 
aim  at  excellence.  You  may  never  attain  your  ideal ; 
but  to  aim  at  it  elevates  all  your  attempts.  When  you 
have  learnt  that  all  is  vanity,  you  may  still  see  that 
there  are  many  such  vanities  which  are  well  worth 
possessing,  nay,  which  are  indispensable,  though  they 
may  be  temporary.  They  are  shadows,  dreams,  illu- 
sions to  those  who  seek  selfish  enjoyment  in  them  ; 
but  they  have  a  reality  hid  within  them  for  all  to 
whom  truth  and  virtue  are  paramount.  As  you  lay 
hold  on  them  with  the  resolution  to  use  them  as  God 
meant  them  and  not  otherwise,  they  will  grow  more 
firm  in  your  grasp,  for  the  very  sacrifice  and  the  effort 
of  seizing  them  makes  them  real ;  and  you  will  find 
that  in  the  discovery  of  truth,  and  in  the  practical 
ministry  to  the  wants  of  your  fellow-men,  life  recovers 
the  reality  of  which  a  too-restless  criticism  would  by 
itself  have  tended  to  deprive  it. 

And  if  not  to  the  critic  himself,  yet  to  the  Church 
and  the  world  at  large,  the  pruning  and  negative 
process  may  liberate  the  truth,  and  intensify  the  zeal 
with  which  it  is  preached.  Let  the  thought  of  a 
distant  mechanical  God  disappear ;  the  immanent 
God,  the  Spirit,  will  be  all  the  more  felt  living  through 
the  creation,  and  through  our  souls.  Let  the  over- 
weening estimate  of  the  element  of  public  worship  dis- 
appear ;  the  sober  and  chastened  worship  whose  words 
are  few  will  be  all  the  more  a  worship  in  spirit  and  in 


172         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


truth.  We  may  have  a  shorter  creed  to  expound,  but 
the  simple  doctrine  of  a  Divine  love  which  has  saved  us 
will  stand  out,  as  it  has  done  in  all  reforming  periods, 
the  more  brightly.  We  mxay  theorise  less  about  the 
person  of  Christ ;  but  the  image  of  His  character,  the 
reality  of  His  life  and  His  divine  self-sacrifice  will 
grow  more  intense  and  vivid.  We  may  not  distract 
our  hearers  by  the  preaching  of  disputed  difficulties, 
but  this  will  set  us  the  more  earnestly  upon  expound- 
ing the  life  of  faith  and  duty,  and  applying  Christian 
principle  to  the  whole  circle  of  human  affairs.  We 
may  assert  less  about  the  future,  whether  here  or 
hereafter ;  but  we  shall  see  and  take  part  in  the 
process  by  which  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  are 
becoming  the  kingdom  of  God  and  of  Christ,  and  the 
sounder  and  soberer  assurance  will  grow  in  us  more 
and  more  that  the  life  which  is  spent  for  the  good  of 
others  is  in  itself  divine  and  jmmortal,  and  that,  as  we 
have  some  experience  here  of  a  God  of  love  working 
in  us  and  making  us  work  for  others  in  communion 
with  Him,  we  and  those  for  whom  we  labour  shall 
live  to  Him  beyond  the  grave. 


VI. 


VI. 


{PreacJud  before  the  University  of  Oxford,  February  19,  1882.) 


"An  holy  priesthood,  to  offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices." — i  Peter  ii.  5. 


The  Apostle's  doctrine  of  the  universal  priesthood  of 
believers  has  been  commonly  maintained  as  a  nega- 
tive rather  than  as  a  positive  assertion.  It  has  been 
used  to  controvert  the  idea  that  there  is  in  the  Church 
a  sacerdotal  order.  The  object  of  the  present  sermon 
will  be  to  set  forth  the  positive  meaning  of  it,  and  to 
draw  out  its  practical  consequences. 

The  memorable  words  in  which  Bishop  Lightfoot 
opens  his  essay  on  the  Christian  ministry  present  a 
good  instance  of  the  negative  use  of  the  doctrine. 
Almost  every  clause  of  it  is  a  negative  in  its  bearing, 
if  not  in  form.  "  The  kingdom  of  Christ,"  he  says, 
not  being  a  kingdom  of  the  world,  is  not  limited  by 
the  restrictions  which  fetter  other  societies,  political 
or  religious.  It  has  no  sacred  days  or  seasons,  no 
special  sanctuaries,  because  every  time  and  place 
alike  are  holy.  Above  all,  it  has  no  sacerdotal 
system.  It  interposes  no  sacrificial  tribe  or  class 
between  God  and  man,  by  whose  intervention  alone 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


God  is  reconciled,  and  man  forgiven."  He  does, 
however,  glance,  before  dismissing  the  subject  of 
universal  priesthood  of  believers,  at  the  positive 
aspect  of  it.  In  the  original  idea  of  the  Church,  he 
says,  ''every  member  of  the  human  family  was 
potentially  a  member  of  the  Church,  and,  as  such,  a 
priest  of  God.  The  influence  of  this  idea  on  the 
moral  and  spiritual  growth  of  the  individual  believer 
is  too  plain  to  require  any  comment ;  but  its  social 
effects  may  call  for  a  passing  remark.  It  will  hardly 
be  denied,  I  think,  by  those  who  have  studied  the 
history  of  modern  civilisation  with  attention  that  this 
conception  of  the  Christian  Church  has  been  mainly 
instrumental  in  the  emancipation  of  the  degraded  and 
oppressed,  in  the  removal  of  artificial  barriers  between 
class  and  class,  and  in  the  diffusion  of  a  general 
philanthropy,  untrammelled  by  the  fetters  of  party  or 
of  race  ;  in  short,  that  to  it  mainly  must  be  attributed 
the  most  important  advantages  which  constitute  the 
superiority  of  modern  societies  over  ancient.  Con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  the  idea  of  a  universal 
priesthood,  of  the  religious  equality  of  all  men,  which, 
thourh  not  untaught  before,  was  first  embodied  in  the 
Church  of  Christ,  has  worked,  and  is  working,  untold 
blessings  in  political  institutions,  and  in  social  life. 
But  the  careful  student  will  also  observe  that  this 
idea  has  been  very  imperfectly  apprehended  ;  that, 
throughout  the  history  of  the  Church,  it  has  been 
struggling  for  recognition,  at  most  times  discerned  in 
some  of  its  aspects,  but  at  all  times  wholly  ignored  in 


The  Universal  Priesthood  of  Believers.  177 

others ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  actual  results  are  a 
very  inadequate  measure  of  its  efficacy,  if  only  it 
could  assume  due  prominence,  and  were  allowed  free 
scope  in  action."  This  idea,  which  the  Bishop  says 
has  been  imperfectly  apprehended,"  I  wish,  with 
those  who  hear  me,  to  endeavour  to  apprehend,  and 
to  see  what  its  efficacy  would  be  if  it  had  the  due 
f   prominence  given  it  of  which  the  Bishop  speaks. 

A  few  words  must  be  said  as  to  the  application  of 
the  word  Priest,  and  of  sacrificial  language  generally, 
to  the  life  and  duties  of  Christians.  The  New  Testa- 
ment is  the  reality,  the  Old  is  the  shadow.  The 
institutions  of  the  Jewish  law  were  special  and  limited 
forms,  which  were  assumed  for  the  time,  by  great 
principles,  of  which  the  fulness  is  disclosed  in  the 
Christian  dispensation.  The  names  which  denote 
these  special  and  transitory  forms  may  be  either 
restricted  to  these  forms  themselves,  or  may  be  ap- 
propriated to  the  full  principles  disclosed  in  the  later 
age.  It  is  certain  that  to  the  writers  of  the  New 
Testament,  the  word  Priest,  when  not  applied  to  the 
sacrificial  functionaries  of  the  Jews,  implied  a  spiritual 
function  of  every  believer.  It  never  once  is  applied 
by  them  to  the  officers  of  the  Christian  community. 
It  did  not  summon  up  to  their  minds  the  ceremonies 
•of  public  worship,  but  the  acts  of  common  life.  And 
this  mode  of  speech  became  habitual  with  the  early 
fathers.  These  fathers,  says  Bishop  Kaye,  used  a 
language  directly  opposite  to  that  which  counts  the 
New  Testament  use  of  these  words  as  merely  meta- 
L 


178         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

phorical.  "They  regarded  the  spiritual  sacrifice  as 
the  true  and  proper  sacrifice,  the  external  sacrificial 
act  as  merely  the  sign  and  symbol."  In  modern 
times,  while  the  word  sacrifice,  in  its  true  spiritual 
sense,  has  passed  into  all  the  languages  of  Christen- 
dom, the  word  Priest  is  no  longer  used  as  the 
Apostles  and  the  early  fathers  used  it :  and  we  might 
be  contented  to  discard  the  word,  and  to  speak  in  t 
more  common  language  of  serving  God,  and  doing 
good  to  men  in  God's  name.  But  perhaps  the  high 
religious  sanction  which  we  desire  to  vindicate  for  the 
functions  of  common  life  will  be  best  kept  before  our 
mind  if  we  use  the  words  Priest  and  Priesthood  ;  for 
we  desire  to  represent  the  true  life  distinctly  as  a 
life  of  consecration. 

We  have  to  speak  first  of  the  recognition  of  the 
priesthood  of  all  believers,  secondly  of  the  exercise  of 
this  priesthood. 

I. — The  powers  involved  in  the  idea  of  priesthood 
are  to  be  recognised  as  present  throughout  the  Chris- 
tian community.  This  will  appear  if  we  take  sepa- 
rately the  functions  in  which  priesthood  is  shown, 
sacrifice,  absolution,  and  blessing  our  brethren.  To 
each  of  these  we  must  give  an  entirely  spiritual  sense, 
and  one  in  which  it  may  at  once  be  seen  that  every 
believer  can  take  part. 

I  cannot  doubt  that  the  root  idea  of  sacrifice,  that 
which  was  struggling  for  recognition  throughout  the 
long  development  which  found  its  culmination  in  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ,  is  contained  in  the  words,  "  Present 


The  Universal  Priesthood  of  Believers.  179 

your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  to  God, 
which  is  your  reasonable  service."  This  found  an 
outward  expression  in  many  forms  under  the  old  dis- 
pensation. I\Ien  gave  to  God  in  contrition  or  in 
deprecation  of  evil,  or  in  gratitude,  or  (as  in  the  whole 
burnt-offering)  as  a  token  of  their  absolute  conse- 
cration to  Him.  But  the  spiritual  idea  of  sacrifice  is 
brought  out  again  and  again,  in  words  such  as  those 
of  the  51st  Psalm,  The  sacrifice  of  God  is  a  broken 
spirit:  a  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  O  God,  Thou 
wilt  not  despise.''  In  the  new  dispensation,  in  con- 
formity with  the  whole  New  Testament  teaching,  the 
inner  principle  is  unveiled,  and  is  left  to  work  itself 
out  freely  in  a  life  consecrated  to  God.  The  priest- 
hood of  Christ  and  of  His  followers  combined  is 
expressed  in  the  fullest  manner  in  the  words  of  His 
high  priestly  prayer,  "  For  their  sakes  I  sanctify 
(dedicate,  or  consecrate,  or  offer)  myself,  that  they 
also  may  be  sanctified  (dedicated,  consecrated,  or 
offered  up)  through  the  truth."  He  who  thus  conse- 
crates himself  is  a  priest  in  the  only  true  sense  ;  and 
of  a  life  so  consecrated  ever}^  act  is  a  sacrifice.  We 
may  follow  this  up  by  showing  how  this  principle  of 
self-sacrifice  acts  in  various  parts  of  human  life.  The 
renunciation  of  gain  or  pleasure  for  God's  sake,  the 
cheerful  acceptance  of  a  lower  life  when  we  see  that 
the  higher  is  beyond  our  reach,  the  readiness  to  take 
pains  for  others,  the  conscientious  discharge  of 
common  duties,  self-denying  rectitude  in  commerce 
and  society,  the  unselfish  pursuit  of  scientific  truth, 
L  2 


i8o         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

frankness,  generosity,  patriotism,  are  all  forms  of  the 
same  principle,  acts  of  spiritual  sacrifice.  Prayer  and 
praise,  whether  private  or  public,  are  also  expressions 
of  it,  so  far,  but  so  far  only,  as  they  sum  up  the 
sincere  outgoing  of  the  heart  and  life. 

The  second  function  of  priesthood  is  absolution  ; 
and  this  rriust  mean  to  us,  a  right  moral  judg- 
ment, with  the  comfort  and  assurance  which  this 
enables  us  to  impart.  Can  we  doubt  that  in  this 
power  every  believer  shares  }  If  we  appeal  to  the 
words  of  our  Lord,  "  Whose  sins  ye  remit,  they  are 
remitted  unto  them,"  it  is  certain  that  these  words 
were  spoken  not  to  any  class  within  the  little 
Christian  community,  but  to  them  all,  to  all  the 
band,  "  the  number  of  whose  names  together  were 
about  1 20."  If  we  look  at  the  two  cardinal  instances 
of  the  exercise  of  the  power  which  the  New  Testa- 
ment presents,  the  absolving  of  the  Gentile  Christians 
from  the  yoke  of  the  .law  with  all  the  offences 
incident  to  it,  the  absolving  of  the  sinner  at  Co- 
rinth from  his  excluding  guilt,  in  each  case  it  is 
all  the  members  of  the  Church  by  whom  the  sentence 
is  pronounced.  Or  if  we  reason  upon  this  power, 
and  say  that  its  meaning  is  to  be  found  not  in 
any  formal  sentence  (since  no  man  can  change  the 
facts  or  make  the  guilty  innocent),  but  in  a  spiritual 
insight  which  perceives  and  declares  the  guilt  or  the 
pardon,  we  see  that  this  is  a  purely  spiritual  act, 
dependent  not  on  hierarchical  position  but  upon  spiri- 
tual capacity,  and,  therefore,  to  be  exercised  by  all 


The  Universal  Priesthood  of  Believers.  i8i 


according  to  their  actual  spiritual  power.  The  sen- 
tence or,  if  we  so  choose  to  call  it,  the  sacrament  of 
absolution  can  be  only  the  imparting  of  the  assurance 
of  forgiveness  ;  and  this  assurance  each  believer  can 
impart  according  to  the  measure  of  his  faith,  his 
spiritual  insight,  and  his  power  of  sympathy. 

The  last  priestly  function  is  the  duty  of  blessing 
our  brethren  in  God's  name.  But  blessing  must  be 
taken  by  Christians  as  applying  not  to  formal  words 
of  blessing,  but  to  the  conveyance  of  spiritual  peace 
and  happiness.  Who  will  say  where  these  may  be 
obtained  .■^  We  have  gained  them,  surely,  as  often 
from  the  humblest  as  from  the  most  learned,  from 
children  as  from  mature  Christians,  from  laymen  as 
from  clergymen,  from  women  as  from  men,  in  the 
family  as  in  the  place  of  worship,  through  letters  and 
printed  words  as  through  the  voice  and  presence  of 
those  we  reverence. 

II. — Thus  far  I  have  dealt  with  the  first  part  of  the 
subject,  the  recognition  of  the  universal  priesthood  of 
believers.  But  it  is  of  far  greater  importance  to  point 
out  how  this  recognition  may  be  made  practical,  or, 
to  use  again  the  words  of  Bishop  Lightfoot,  what 
would  be  "its  efficiency  if  only  it  could  assume  due 
prominence  and  were  allowed  free  scope  in  action." 

I.  The  overweening  importance  attached  to  public 
worship  and  to  the  clerical  functions  connected  with 
it  would  be  reduced,  and  that  of  the  other  priestly 
acts  of  believers  would  largely  incr-ease.  There  is  a 
tendency  of  our  thoughts,  as  soon  as  religion  is  spoken 


j82 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


of,  to  fly  at  once  to  the  scenes  of  public  worship. 
And,  if  we  observe  a  conversation  on  religious  topics, 
if  not  in  University  circles  where  men  reason  more 
deeply,  yet  in  ordinary  society,  in  newspapers,  and  in 
political  discussion,  we  almost  always  find  it  eventuate 
in  questions  relating  to  congregational  worship.  The 
hollowness  of  this  tendency  has  appeared  to  some 
minds  of  great  insight  so  fatal,  that  they  have  wished 
or  believed  that  public  worship  might  cease  altogether 
in  the  Church.  Heinrich  Heine  said  that  the  one 
thing  which  was  detestable  among  Jews,  Protestants, 
and  Catholics^  was  public  worship.  Even  Richard 
Rothe,  one  of  the  most  large-minded  and  the  most 
deeply  pious  of  German  theologians,  declared  his  con- 
viction that  the  Church  as  an  organisation  for  worship 
was  destined  to  dwindle  and  pass  away.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  share  these  gloomy  views  ;  for,  however 
much  we  may  recognise  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in 
other  departments  than  that  of  public  worship,  all 
who  work  in  those  departments  need  a  common 
meeting-place  and  the  maintenance  of  common 
aspirations,  and  a  constant  renewal  of  their  common 
relations  to  God,  and  this  is  specially  found  in  public 
worship.  Blessed^  thrice  blessed,  on  these  accounts, 
will  the  assembling  of  ourselves  together  ever  be  to 
the  great  majority  of  Christians.  But  where  public 
worship  and  its  appurtenances  take  a  place  which  is 
hardly  less  than  all-absorbing  and  exclusive,  it  is 
necessary  to  point  out  the  bad  results  which  flow 
from  this  usurpation.    A  great  part  of  the  Christian 


The  Universal  Priesthood  of  Believers.  183 

instruction  and  energy  which  ought  to  flow  forth  in 
fortifying  the  common  Hfe  of  men  is  absorbed  in  the 
details  of  worship  and  the  attempt  at  over-minute 
definitions  of  rehgious  truth  apart  from  human  life. 
Men  are  divided  from  each  other  on  questions  about 
rites,  or  about  the  ministers  of  worship,  instead  of 
being  united  in  the  great  bond  of  the  Christian  life. 
And  the  clergy,  who  are  the  ministers  of  public 
worship,  come  then  to  be  a  supreme  and  exclusive 
class  w^ithin  the  Christian  body  :  so  that  when  men 
speak  of  the  Church  they  much  more  frequently  mean 
the  clergy  and  the  system  of  worship  than  the  re- 
deemed community  and  its  life.  The  remedy  for  this 
is  not  so  much  to  be  found,  as  was  done  to  some 
extent  at  the  Reformation,  and  as  has  been  done 
exclusively  in  the  revolutionary  movements  of  this 
century,  in  abasing  the  status  of  the  clergy,  but  much 
more  in  raising  up  the  functions  of  the  laity.  It  is 
not  the  clergy,  even  according  to  the  celebrated 
saying  of  M.  Gambetta,  but  clericalism  which  is  the 
enemy  ;  and  its  antidote  is  that  the  w'hole  Christian 
body  should  learn  to  say  "  We  are  the  Church,"  and 
that  every  man  in  his  vocation  should  feel  that  he  is 
exercising  a  sacred  ministry  as  truly  as  the  man  who 
leads  in  prayer  or  speaks  from  the  pulpit. 

This  view  of  the  Christian  Church  may  rightly  be 
called  the  primitive  view.  The  ministries  of  the  early 
Church,  as  research  into  its  origins  has  shown  us,  were 
formed  not  for  worship  but  for  government.  Worship 
was  left  free  under  the  shadow  of  the  rule  that  all 


184         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

should  be  done  decently  and  in  order.  The  ruling 
elders  were  not,  as  some  of  the  early  Presbyterians 
supposed  in  the  theory  combated  by  Hooker,  excep- 
tional officers  apart  from  the  rest,  but  the  whole  body 
of  the  elders,  some  of  whom,  as  some  of  every  class, 
took  part  in  the  conduct  of  divine  worship.  If  it  is 
thought  by  some  that  some  of  these  conclusions  have 
been  overdrawn,  still  I  think  no  one  can  doubt  that 
the  organisation  of  the  early  Churdies  was  framed 
rather  for  administering  the  affairs  of  the  whole  com- 
munity as  a  society  for  mutual  well-doing  than  for 
the  conduct  of  common  worship. 

The  whole  community,  then,  in  the  whole  range 
of  its  life  to  which  government  and  mutual  well-doing 
apply,  is,  in  the  Christian  sense,  a  kingdom  of  priests  ; 
and  every  act  of  a  faithful  life  is  a  sacrifice.  And  if 
we  carry  this  principle  to  its  furthest  consequences, 
we  cannot  doubt  that  the  ideal  of  the  Church  which 
should  be  kept  before  our  eyes  is  that  of  an  all- 
embracing  community,  endowed  with  supreme 
sovereignty,  and  exercising  all  its  functions  in  the' 
name  and  spirit  of  Christ.  It  may  be  wrong  to 
suppose  that  we  can  act  on  this  supposition  as 
though  this  state  was  already  attained.  But  of  this 
we  may  be  sure,  that  there  will  be  unrest  and  dis- 
traction in  human  affairs  until  the  Church  is 
sovereign,  that  is,  until  the  nation  and  the  state 
are  distinctly  pervaded  by  the  Christian  principle. 
The  attempts  to  bring  this  about  which  have  been 
made  at  various  epochs,  by  Savonarola  at  Florence, 


The  Universal  Priesthood  of  Believers.  185 

by  Calvin  at  Geneva,  by  those  who  organised  the 
EngHsh  state  before  and  at  the  Reformation  on 
the  assumption  that  it  was  one  great  spiritual  whole 
or  body  politic,  and  again  the  attempts  of  the 
Puritans  to  found  colonies  in  x\merica,  where  they 
could  live  their  whole  life  according  to  the  laws  of 
God,  have  all  met  with  but  very  partial  success. 
But  they  have  been  in  the  right  direction,  and  it 
must  be  the  task  of  our  age  to  press  on  in  that 
direction  and  to  dedicate  the  whole  life  of  man  to 
God. 

2.  But,  leaving  this  great  ideal,  we  may  apply  our 
principle  to  the  state  of  the  Church  as  we  find  it  now. 
There  is  the  inner  circle  of  Church  life,  that  is,  the 
organisation  for  worship,  instruction,  and  beneficence, 
which  is  conducted  under  the  leadership  of  the  paro- 
chial clergy.  The  object  of  all  who  have  to  do  with  this 
should  be  not  to  overlay  the  system  with  the  sole,  auto- 
cratic, separate  priesthood  of  the  clergy,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  to  evoke,  to  the  fullest  extent,  the  germs  of 
priestly  consecration  and  sacrifice,  the  service  of  the 
individual  members  of  the  parochial  Church.  We 
must  train  them  to  this  service.  And,  where  we  see 
any  disposition  for  this  service,  we  must  recognise 
this  with  the  heartiest  readiness,  as  the  spontaneous 
movement  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  a  sacred  thing  which 
we  have  no  right  to  interfere  with.  For  order's  sake, 
we  must,  of  course,  take  care  that  the  various  activi- 
ties do  not  clash  with  one  another  ;  and  we  must, 
from  time  to  time,  guard  men  against  movements 


1 86         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

which  are  eccentric  and  are  found  by  experience  to  be 
unprofitable.  But  to  make  any  system  of  our  own  or 
any  traditional  type  the  measure  of  God's  work,  to 
insist  that  all  that  does  not  agree  with  such  a  system 
shall  cease  or  be  driven  out,  what  is  this  but  to 
thwart  and  to  quench  the  Spirit  of  God  ?  Instead  of 
trying  to  live  men's  lives  for  them,  we  must  foster 
any  original  power  developed  in  them.  We  must 
gladly  see  them  form  institutions  for  Christian  pur- 
poses, and  be  prepared  to  let  such  institutions  be 
moulded  according  to  their  conceptions  rather  than 
our  own.  It  is  this  which  gives  so  real  a  spiritual 
force  to  the  proposals  which  are  made  from  time  to 
time  to  give  definite  constitutional  power  to  the  laity 
in  parishes.  So  long  as  such  proposals  are  looked 
upon  merely  as  a  drag  upon  the  clergyman,  they  are 
weak.  But  when  they  partake  of  the  true  character 
of  Christian  constitutionalism,  which  means  the  com- 
bining of  the  free  spiritual  power  of  each  into  the 
energy  of  the  whole,  they  have  with  them  the  strength 
Avhich  comes  from  a  consciousness  of  the  divine  in- 
dwelling. They  mean  the  drawing  forth  in  men's 
souls  of  the  powers  of  counsel  and  care  for  their 
fellows,  the  unsealing  of  fountains  of  precious  waters 
of  beneficence  which  have  been  pent  up,  the  opening 
of  mines  from  which  the  golden  store  of  Christian 
service,  which  has  hitherto  lain  useless,  may  come 
forth  to  enrich  mankind. 

3.  This  suggests  another  aspect  of  our  subject,  the 
respect  which  is  due  from  us  to  those  religious  move- 


The  Universal  Priesthood  of  Believers.  187 

ments  and  religious  communities  which  have  formed 
themselves  spontaneously  amongst  us.  However 
much  we  may  have  been  vexed  at  times  by  extrava- 
gance or  contentiousness,  or  dogmatism,  or  the  mere 
spirit  of  dissidence,  how  infinitely  precious  is  anything 
of  original  Christian  conviction  !  When  we  sojourn 
in  France  or  in  Italy,  where  a  servile  Church  system 
has  made  religion  frivolous  and  reasonable  faith  all 
but  impossible  ;  or  even  in  Germany,  where  officialism 
has  so  cramped  it,  we  are  almost  impelled  to  cry  out, 
"  Oh!  for  one  movement  of  dissent  in  any  of  its  forms, 
of  the  free  convicticn  with  which  the  Christian  Anglo- 
Saxon  has  learnt  to  take  his  stand  in  the  presence  of 
earth  and  heaven,  not  bowing  down  to  an  authority 
he  cannot  believe  in,  but  obeying  his  conscience  as 
supreme."  All  forms  of  such  honest  conviction,,  from 
the  Roman  Catholic,  who  bears  a  lifelong  ban 
amongst  us  rather  than  give  up  his  faith,  to  the 
Theist,  who  dares  not  utter  more  than  the  first 
article  of  the  Creed  (nay,  have  we  not  said  at  times,  in 
our  more  hopeful  moods,  to  the  Agnostic,  whose  dumb 
faith  fears  to  go  beyond  the  truth,  even  in  affirming 
the  existence  of  God  ?),  from  the  sedate  worship  and 
full-formed  system  of  respectable  and  political  non- 
conformity to  the  noisy  confusion  of  the  Salvation 
Army,  have  made  some  real  contribution  to  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  race,  and  must  be  respected  and 
valued  by  us  as  phases,  however  strange,  of  the 
universal  priesthood  of  believers. 

4.  We  may  here  touch  upon  the  sense  of  in- 


]88 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


dividual  independence  as  intimately  connected  with 
the  idea  of  priesthood.  The  priest  is  consecrated  by 
God  Himself.  No  man  may  interfere  with  him.  It 
is  a  kind  of  sacrilege  which  we  commit  when  we 
overbear  individual  conviction,  or  interfere  beyond 
the  just  limits  with  individual  action.  St.  Paul 
guarded  his  independence  even  against  the  supposed 
authority  of  the  most  intimate  disciples  of  Christ  ; 
and  in  this,  as  in  his  call  to  be  a  Christian,  he  is  an 
example  to  all  believers.  Great  boldness  was  the 
characteristic  of  the  early  Christian  teachers  ;  and  it 
ought  to  be  so  with  us.  Will  it  be  said  that  boldness 
has  run  into  excess  in  our  time,  and  that  the  wildest 
opinions  are  often  maintained  1  I  reply,  first,  that 
wild  assertions  made  by  those  who  do  not  care  to 
harmonise  the  various  parts  of  human  life  are  hardly 
worthy  of  notice  ;  but,  secondly,  that  when  we  have 
fully  framed  our  views,  in  humility  and  with  prayer, 
the  best  service  and  sacrifice  that  we  can  render  to 
God  and  to  man  is  to  speak  out  our  thoughts  with 
boldness,  and  to  strive  with  energy  to  give  them 
effect.  And  the  best  influence  we  can  exert  upon 
other  men  is  that  which  will  foster  in  them  such 
convictions,  and  win  for  them  the  opportunity  of 
expressing  them.  Mere  recklessness  of  assertion 
or  impulsiveness  of  action  is,  indeed,  a  great  danger, 
and  it  is  generally  swayed  by  an  unconscious 
deference  to  some  assumption  which  has  not  been 
fathomed,  but  is  taken  on  authority.  That  is  not 
true  independence.    But  thorough  and  original  con- 


The  Universal  Priesthood  of  Believers.  189 


viction,  evei  though  its  expression  is  one-sided,  is 
always  precious,  and  its  ministry  will  very  rarely  be 
unfruitful.  Nor  need  this  be  original  in  the  sense  of 
being  strange.  The  most  ordinary  view  of  life,  if  he 
who  entertains  it  is  sincere,  is  much  more  fruitful 
than  the  most  novel  idea  caught  up  at  second-hand. 
Let  our  effort  be  to  realise,  to  appropriate  ;  let  us  act 
because  we  feel  and  are  convinced,  and  because  we 
see  that  what  we  are  doing  can  be  a  channel  for  the 
outflow  of  love.  Let  us  never  be  ashamed  of  our 
thoughts  or  our  actions,  nor  of  connecting  them 
distinctly  with  our  allegiance  to  Christ.  This  will  be 
our  truest  sacrifice,  a  sacrifice  which  will  not  fail  of  a 
reconciling  effect  upon  our  fellow-men. 

5.  With  this  independence  we  may  connect  the 
sense  of  dignity.  As  the  priestly  consecration  made 
the  commonest  things  holy,  and  rendered  them  the 
channels  of  grace  to  others,  so*  every  work  that  is 
undertaken  in  faith  becomes  a  holy  offering  and  a 
channel  of  good.  There  is  nothing  which  gives  a 
deeper  impression  of  the  redemptive  power  of  Christi- 
anity than  the  teaching  which  St.  Paul  addressed  to 
slaves.  He  is  not  so  anxious  that  they  should  obtain 
external  freedom,  but  much  more  that  they  should 
view  their  service  as  rendered  to  God  :  "  With  good- 
will doing  ser\-ice  as  unto  the  Lord  and  not  to  men." 
Li  this  way  they  were  to  show  that,  though  outwardly 
bondsmen,  they  were  spiritually  independent.  Their 
service  became  a  ministry,  a  Christian  sacrifice.  And 
it  is  in  the  same  light  that  we  are  to  view  all  our 


190         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


Christian  life.  Each  of  the  various  functions 
which  we  fill  is  a  priesthood  ;  the  service  which 
we  render  in  them  is  a  holy  sacrifice  ;  the  materials 
which  we  employ  are  sacraments  and  signs  of  the 
spiritual  act  within.  The  student  who  devotes  him- 
self to  the  acquisition  of  truth,  whose  prayer  is  that  his 
mind  may  be  sustained  till  he  has  acquired  the  know- 
ledge which  it  is  his  duty  to  seek,  is  ministering  in  a 
sacred  office,  and  his  writings,  up  from  the  simplest 
college  essay  or  analysis  to  the  highest  product  of 
genius,  the  outward  record  of  the  working  of  his  spirit 
within,  are  the  emblems  and  signs  of  his  ministry. 
The  trader  who  is  determined  to  act  honestly  and  is 
conscious  that  his  trade  is  the  means  of  benefit  to 
others,  and  follows  it  with  that  object,  is  a  minister  of 
God  for  their  good,  and  the  commodities  with  which 
he  deals  are  the  outward  sign  of  his  honest\*  and 
his  beneficence.  The  artist  whose  object  is  beauty  is, 
by  purifying  and  ennobling  our  sense  of  beauty,  doing 
ser\^ice  to  God  and  man,  and  the  works  of  his  art  are 
the  media  by  which  his  service  is  rendered.  And  if, 
as  we  have  been  assured  of  late  by  a  high  priest  of 
art,  we  are  not  to  measure  works  of  art  by  an  ex- 
clusively moral  standard,  or  to  require  that  they 
should  read  a  religious  lesson,  yet  the  refinement  and 
the  repose  which  they  bring  are  part  of  our  moral 
nature;  and  the  artist  may  justly  feel  that  through  his 
works,  as  through  a  sacramental  channel,  priceless 
blessinsrs  mav  flow  to  his  fellow-men.  I  need  not 
point  out  that  the  same  is  true  in  the  family  where 


The  Universal  Priesthood  of  Believers.  191 

every  father  is  a  priest  by  a  kind  of  natural  consecra- 
tion, nor  in  the  State  where  every  ruler  is  a  minister  of 
God  for  our  good.  The  great  want  of  our  age  is  that 
we  should  look  at  all  these  functions  not  as  profane 
and  secular,  according  to  t-he  heathen  and  Jewish  idea 
which  Christ  came  to  banish,  but  as  those  in  which 
the  service  of  God  pre-eminently  lies.  There  is  the 
true  sacrifice,  there  the  living  priesthood,  there  is  the 
sacrament  of  our  union,  the  real  presence  and  the 
body  of  Christ  our  Lord. 

6.  In  our  day,  and  especially  in  this  University, 
this  is  the  aspect  of  Christianity  on  which  it  most 
behoves  us  to  dwell.  It  is  an  age  of  much  movement 
of  opinion,  and  the  dogmatic  and  sacerdotal  systems 
with  which  Christianity  has  been  bound  up  in  past 
ages  have  lost  much  of  their  hold  on  mankind. 
There  is  a  demand  on  all  sides  for  a  religion  which 
shall  be  a  life  rathef  than  a  system.  It  is  true^  no 
doubt,  that  all  serious  life  inv^olves  principles  which 
can  be  stated  in  a  dogmatic  form,  and  also  that  it 
must  have  some  system  or  polity  in  which  to  move. 
But  what  is  demanded  is  that  the  life  should  be 
paramount,  and  dogma  and  system  secondary  ;  that 
is,  that  the  free  life  of  the  spirit  should  not  be 
cramped  either  by  statements  or  by  rules  ;  that,  so 
far  as  statements  are  made,  they  should  be  made 
with  the  recognition  that  they  are  attempts  to 
express  a  divine  life  which  is  beyond  all  expression, 
and  that  they  should  be  constantly  tested  by  the 
living  experience  of  souls  in  contact  with  the  divine  ; 


192         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

and  that  Church  systems  should  be  sufficiently  elastic 
to  give  free  play  to  the  diverse  action  of  the  Spirit 
which  blows  where  it  lists.  Under  these  conditions 
we  may  freely  use  the  language  and  the  institutions 
bequeathed  to  us  by  the  piety  of  former  ages.  But  it 
may  well  be  that  these  may  so  change  their  form  as, 
for  a  time,  to  be  hardly  recognisable,  or  may  even 
undergo  some  eclipse.  And  what  all  who  love  Christ 
should  seek  to  do  is  to  foster  the  religion  of  life  and 
duty  as  distinguished  from  a  religion  of  acts  of 
worship  ;  for  this  is  the  sacrifice  which  all  can  offer. 
And  those  to  whom  Church  services  have  grown  dim, 
and  sermons  dull,  may  find — let  us  aid  them  in 
finding — in  conscientious  research,  or  earnest  political 
discussion,  in  art,  or  in  family  and  social  intercourse, 
or  in  the  works  of  Christian  philanthropy,  a  dogma  of 
the  spirit,  a  ritual  of  life,  through  which  the  holy  and 
acceptable  service  can  be  rendered  to  God. 

Education  is  advancing,  and  more  and  more  men 
are  becoming  able  to  instruct  one  another.  The  press 
is  a  great  engine  which  dispenses  the  pulpit  from  some 
part,  at  least,  of  its  work,  and  replaces  the  symbols  of 
Christian  worship  by  the  realities  of  life.  The  long- 
drawn  ritual  of  the  middle  ages,  the  many  hours' 
preachings  and  didactic  prayers  of  the  Puritan  era, 
found  their  reason,  to  a  large  extent,  in  the  fact  that 
they  were  the  means  of  popular  instruction  ;  they  did 
the  work  of  the  school  and  the  press  as  v/ell  as  that  of 
public  worship.  We  all  acquiesce  in  the  change  by 
which  the  extra-ecclesiastical  life  has  been  enlarged, 


The  Universal  Priesthood  of  Believers,  193 


and  the  intra-ecclesiastical  life  has  been  straitened. 
How  far  is  this  process  destined  to  go  on  ?  That  we 
can  hardly  tell.  But  we  can  look  at  the  question  with 
the  utmost  calmness  if  only  the  extra-ecclesiastical 
life  can  become  Christian  and  spiritual.  On  this 
condition,  let  the  process  I  have  described  go  on  ever 
so  far,  it  will  only  mean  that  the  Church  itself,  the 
body  of  believers,  is  rising  to  its  true  position,  be- 
coming conscious  of  itself  and  of  its  vocation  ;  that 
worship  is  no  longer  confined  to  the  sanctuary,  but 
spreading  itself  through  the  life  of  mankind  ;  that  the 
limited  priesthood  of  the  leaders  of  public  prayer  is 
being  exchanged  for  the  universal  priesthood  of 
believers. 

Lastly,  we  pray  for  the  progress  of  the  Gospel,  and 
for  the  evangelisation  of  the  masses  in  our  towns. 
How  can  we  expect  this  to  be  brought  about  till,  b)- 
the  recognition  of  the  principle  I  am  developing,  the 
latent  powers  of  all  believers  are  drawn  out }  The 
great  thing  to  be  desired  is,  that  righteousness,  and 
the  fear  of  God,  should  pervade  the  community  ;  and 
this  can  only  be  accomplished  by  the  work  of  indi- 
viduals helping  one  another,  like  the  stones  supporting 
each  other  in  the  building.  We  should  desire  to  see 
centres  of  Christian  influence  multiplied  on  all  sides, 
sound  principle  and  care  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
men  working  its  way  from  heart  to  heart,  from  life  to 
life.  We  must  teach  men  and  women  of  all  classes 
that  they  are  not  to  be  mere  hearers,  nor  Indiviauai 
recipients  of  spiritual  good,  but  sources  of  spiritual 
M 


194         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

good  to  those  who  are  connected  with  them.  We 
must  say  to  them,  "It  is  not  the  clergy  alone  to  whom 
the  duty  of  religious  influence  is  committed.  You 
yourselves  are  responsible  for  it.  Take  your  part, 
each  as  you  can,  in  the  works  of  Christian  instruction 
and  beneficence.  Let  each  be  a  priest  in  his  family, 
and  in  his  trade  or  profession,  and  in  the  society  in 
which  he  moves,  so  that  Christ  may  become  the  bond 
of  union  to  every  company,  the  ultimate  touchstone 
and  standard  of  appeal  for  all  consciences,  and  for 
every  act."  It  is  by  this  open  system  of  living  religion 
which  dwells  in  the  fresh  air  that  we  shall  summon 
the  breath  to  breathe  from  the  four  winds  upon  the 
dead  and  the  indifferent,  that  they  may  live.  It  is 
certain  that  the  co-operation  of  all,  in  all  the 
functions  which  they  fill,  is  needed  to  effect  the 
purposes  of  our  ministry.  It  is  by  this  that  the 
promise  may  by  degrees  come  to  be  fulfilled,  that 
all  shall  know  the  Lord  from  the  least  to  the  greatest. 
The  coming  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  its  fulness  awaits 
the  recognition,  and  the  practical  exercise,  of  the 
universal  priesthood  of  his  servants. 


VII. 

©Ob  Immanent  in  i¥lan  anir  ^.ature. 


M  2 


VII. 


6oif  5mmanent  in  illan  anir  Mature* . 

{Preached  at  Balliol  College^  May  21,  1882.) 


"God  is  a  Spirit :  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship  Him 
in  spirit  and  in  truth." — ^John  iv.  24, 


Who  is  there  who  has  not  at  times  been  perplexed 
when  he  has  tried  to  think  of  God  ?  What  is  God  ? 
Where  is  He,  and  how  shall  we  find  Him  ?  When 
philosophers  speak  of  Him  as  the  Great  First  Cause, 
or  the  Infinite,  and  the  Absolute,  such  words  fall  too 
coldly  on  our  ears  and  on  our  hearts  to  evoke  any 
earnest  response.  If  we  try  to  conceive  Him  after 
the  likeness  of  a  man,  we  soon  fall  into  unworthy 
ideas  or  run  counter  to  facts.  We  seize  upon  the 
image  of  goodness  presented  in  the  human  personality 
of  Christ,  and  say  that  "  In  Him  dwelleth  all  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Godhead  bodily."  But  that  personality 
has  passed  away  from  the  earth,  and  a  merely  his- 
torical religion  becomes  impossible  to  us.  We  seem 
to  be  hemmed  in  by  the  difficulty  of  finding  God. 
Out  of  that  difficulty  a  way  seems  to  be  shown  us  in 
the  words,  "  God  is  a  Spirit." 

That  is  the  declaration  which  the  Ascension  and 
Whitsuntide  make.    The  form  of  the  Son  of  Man 


198         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life, 

passes  away,  and  the  Spirit  comes.  We  are  no 
longer  to  think  of  the  Divine  as  confined  within  the 
personality  of  a  man,  though  that  personality  repre- 
sents with  the  utmost  vividness  God  in  history.  It 
was  expedient  that  that  should  pass  away7and  that 
which  was  better,  which  was  to  come  instead,  was  the 
Spirit,  the  essential  and  final  manifestation  of  God  to 
man — that  which  is  the  inner  fountain  of  the  Divine 
life,  that  by  which  God  makes  Himself  known,  not  to 
the  outer  sense,  but  to  the  inner  conviction  and  the 
heart  of  man.  This  declaration  is  peculiarly  appro- 
priate to  our  own  time,  when  much  doubt  is  thrown 
upon  .the  external  mechanism  of  religion,  whether  in 
its  ancient  documents  or  its  present  forms,  but 
when  the  spirit  of  religion  is  very  far  from  being 
denied,  nay,  is  often  felt  and  accepted  far  beyond  the 
limits  of  churches  and  confessions  of  faith.  May  we 
not  find  that  a  God  who  is  felt,  and  who  becomes  a 
living  power  to  us,  though  we  can  hardly  express  in  a 
logical  statement  what  that  power  is,  is  more  real  to 
us  than  a  God  fenced  in  all  round  by  guarantees  and 
attested  by  historical  documents  t 

For  what  is  meant  by  saying  that  God  is  a  Spirit } 
First,  God  is  an  influence,  a  power  which  we  feel 
working  upon  us  and  upon  the  world  generally — as  it 
has  been  said  by  a  great  writer  of  our  day,  A  stream 
of  tendency,"  "A  power  that  makes  for  righteousness." 
But  it  would  be  wrong  to  insist  upon  such  an  expres- 
sion as  this  as  adequate ;  for  the  comparison  is  some- 
what dangerous  which  likens  the  chief  power  in  the 


God  Immanent  in  Man  and  Nature. 


199 


world  to  a  material  and  unconscious  thing — a  stream. 
Whatever  the  supreme  power  is,  He  cannot  be  thought 
of  as  destitute  of  mind  and  love.  If  we  cannot  take 
the  human  mind  and  human  love  as  wholly  realising 
the  true  conception  of  Him,  it  is  because  we  must 
conceive  of  Him  as  infinitely  transcending  these.  He 
cannot  be  less  than  our  thought  or  our  love,  but  in- 
finitely more  ;  embracing  these,  but  embracing  a  vast 
circle  of  energy  beyond  them.  We  speak  of  man  as 
being  essentially  a  spiritual  being,  and  St.  Paul  leads 
us  to  argue  from  the  spirit  of  a  man,  which  knows  the 
things  of  a  man,  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  knows  the 
things  of  God.  But,  just  as  we  may  think  of  a  man  as 
the  centre  of  influences  which  emanate  from  him,  as 
breathing  forth  upon  the  whole  circle  of  his  family 
and  friends  an  atmosphere  of  kindness,  or  refinement, 
or  knowledge,  of  which  they  all  come  to  partake — ^just 
as  we  speak  of  the  spirit  of  a  man's  life,  and  the  spirit 
which  he  sheds  around  him,  so  we  may  think  of  God 
as  the  centre  of  all  the  Divine  influence  v/hich  quickens 
and  sustains,  which  comforts  and  encourages  us, 
which  brightens  the  mind  and  gives  fervour  to  the 
moral  affections,  which  combines  all  the  forces  of  the 
world  so  as  not  only  to  make  but  to  work  for 
righteousness.  The  world  is  the  vesture  of  the 
unseen  God  ;  its  whole  atmosphere  is  charged  with 
His  presence.  W^hosoever,  in  humble  faith,  and  with 
a  heart  which  longs  for  truth  and  goodness,  opens  his 
mouth  and  draws  in  his  breath,  that  man  is  straight- 
way filled,  not  with  some  vague  influence  only,  but 


200         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

with  all  the  fulness  of  God.  The  desire  and  the 
power  to  do  right  which  he  acquires  is  none  other 
than  the  central  force  which  animates  the  world.  He 
lives  and  moves  in  God. 

The  tendency  of  modern  thought  is  to  trace  a 
single  power  working  throughout  the  universe ;  to 
presume  that  it  is  one  force,  constant,  yet  changing 
its  mode  of  action,  by  which  man  and  nature  alike  are 
swayed.  Does  not  this  suggest  to  us  the  mode  of  life 
of  the  Divine  Being,  and  of  His  relation  to  the 
world  }  Is  it  not  quite  of  a  piece  with  that  which  is 
meant  by  saying  that  God  is  a  Spirit — that  is,  an 
inner  power,  an  influence,  a  life  which  penetrates  all 
things,  and  forms  them  at  its  will  t  It  gives  us  the 
idea  of  a  God  who  is  not  far  off,  not  working  merely 
from  without  upon  His  creatures,  but  within  them, 
the  life  of  their  life,  the  love  of  their  love.  The 
writers  on  Christian  evidences  have  often  likened  the 
action  of  God  upon  the  world  to  the  action  of  a 
mechanic  or  an  architect  on  the  material  out  of  which 
he  makes  a  watch,  or  a  steam-engine,  or  a  building. 
But  this  comparison  fails  in  this  point,  that  there  is 
no  evidence  of  any  such  agent  working  upon  the 
world  from  without.  Perhaps  we  may  gain  a  more 
living  conception  of  God  by  speaking  of  Him  as 
the  soul  of  the  world,  and  comparing  His  action 
to  that  of  the  vital  power  in  man  upon  his  body  ; 
or,  in  animated  nature,  to  the  action  of  the  inner 
principle  of  life  upon  the  particles  of  matter  which 
make  up  the  organism.    That  last  is  a  constructive 


God  Immanent  in  Man  and  Nature. 


20I 


and  an  upholding  energy,  and  gives  us  a  truer  view 
of  creation  than  the  other. 

Further,  this  thought  of  a  Divine  Spirit  working 
through  us  and  through  all  things  gives  us  a  sense  of 
unity,  and  shows  us  how  the  discords  without  and 
within  us  may  be  harmonised  and  all  be  brought 
under  the  dominion  of  God.  The  love  which  we  feel 
to  be  our  own  true  life  is  no  longer  thought  of  as  a 
peculiar  endowment  of  ourselves,  or  of  a  few  like  our- 
selves. It  combines  with  the  larger  love,  which  is  the 
true  life  of  the  great  family  of  man,  and  which  centres 
in  Jesus  Christ.  And  this  love,  again_,  which  is  the 
true  life  of  mankind,  has  its  source  in  the  eternal 
impulse  of  life  which  moves  the  whole  universe  ;  and 
thus  we  gain  the  assurance  that  that  impulse  also  is 
one  of  boundless  love.  The  Word,  which  was  made 
flesh  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  is  He  without  Whom 
nothing  was  made  ;  and  that  Word  is  God.  Instead 
of  conceiving  of  the  world  as  a  series  of  separate 
creations,  and  miracles,  and  interpositions,  we  may 
conceive  of  it  as  a  growth,  or  development,  of  which 
God  Himself  forms  the  living  and  directing  force. 

What  we  are  concerned  with  in  preaching  is  the 
effect  of  this  belief  in  the  Divine  Spirit  upon  our  lives 
and  consciences.  In  tracing  this  out,  I  will  make  use 
of  two  words,  both  of  them  familiar  to  us,  in  which  we 
seem  to  realise  the  idea  of  a  higher  power,  of  a  Holy 
Spirit,  combining  with  and  giving  energy  to  our  own 
— inspiration  and  aspiration. 

I.  We  have  been  so  much  accustomed  to  think  of 


202  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

inspiration  as  specially  belonging  to  the  writers  of  the 
Bible  that  we  fail  to  realise  it  as  belonging  to  our- 
selves. Yet  St.  Paul's  teaching  was  that  every 
Christian  was  inspired  ;  and  in  our  familiar  prayers 
and  collects  we  ask  for  that  inspiration  w^hich  makes 
us  do  what  is  good,  and  may  cleanse  the  thoughts  of 
our  hearts.  It  is  the  consciousness  that  this  inspira- 
tion is  working  within  us  which  gives  us  spiritual 
power.  The  Christian  doctrine  is  that  the  Spirit  allies 
Himself  with  every  faculty  of  ours  to  quicken  and  to 
strengthen  it,  and  to  work  through  it  for  good.  Who 
can  refuse,  without  being  false  to  himself,  to  listen  to 
the  conscience  by  which  he  perceives  right  and  wrong, 
and  is  impelled  to  choose  the  one  and  avoid  the 
other  Why  is  it,  then,  that  conscience  is  so  often 
stripped  of  its  due  authority,  that  it  grows  languid, 
and  even  perverted  }  Is  it  not  because  we  do  not 
habitually  recognise  it  as  the  chosen  organ  of  God 
within  us  If  we  accustomed  ourselves  to  feel  that 
the  voice  which  speaks  to  us  there  is  His  voice  and 
that  the  impulse  towards  good  is  His  impulse,  and 
the  faculty  by  which  we  discern  good  from  evil  is 
the  eye  of  God,  must  not  the  light  by  which  we 
see  the  truth  grow  constantly  clearer,  and  the 
sacred  voice  sound  louder  and  louder,  until  its 
dictates,  or  rather  its  drawings,  would  prove  irre- 
sistible }  We  imagine  that,  if  the  heav^ens  could 
open,  or  the  ground  cleave  asunder,  and  a  voice  like 
the  trumpet  of  Mount  Sinai  could  proclaim  the  moral 
law  in  our  hearing,  we  should  at  once  and  for  ever  be 


God  Immanent  in  Man  and  Nature.  203 

scared  from  evil  and  impelled  towards  good.  But 
the  true  teaching  bids  us  recognise  God  in  none  of 
these  so  much  as  in  the  still  small  voice  persuading 
us,  reasoning  with  us,  saying,  "  This  is  the  way,  walk 
ye  into  it,"  drawing  out  to  our  view  the  beauty  of 
goodness,  humbling  us  because  of  our  faults,  leading 
us  to  the  fountain  of  repentance  and  forgiveness,  con- 
straining us  by  the  power  of  love,  bidding  us  go  forth, 
not  with  conviction  only  but  with  gladness,  to  do 
right.  And  that  voice  we  hear  every  moment,  if  we 
will  but  listen  to  it.  Let  us  acknowledge  it  as 
supreme,  as  the  voice  of  God  within  us. 

We  need  not  dwell  on  the  objection  that  con- 
science is  often  weak,  sometimes  perverted,  and  that 
we  cannot,  therefore,  trust  it  absolutely  as  the  voice 
of  God.  I  do  not  think  that  any  one  acting  with  a 
sincere  wish  to  know  truth  and  right,  has  ever  gone 
far  wrong.  We  may  easily  be  deceived  if  our 
conscience  only  reflects  our  habitual  standard  of 
duty,  and  we  are  closing  our  minds  against  fresh 
light  and  truth.  But  the  Divine  inspiration  of  which 
we  are  speaking  may  be  tested,  in  distinction  from 
self-deception,  by  this — that  it  makes  the  conscience 
not  blind  and  fanatical  but  open-minded  and  progres- 
sive. The  Spirit  is  the  spirit  of  truth,  and  guides 
those  into  whom  it  enters  into  all  truth. 

The  voice  of  the  Spirit  is  spontaneous,,  immediate. 
It  may,  indeed,  make  use  of  many  means,  but  none 
of  them  is  absolutely  essential.  It  may  speak  to  us 
through  historical  scenes,  or  through  the  words  of 


204         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

Christ  or  the  Apostles,  or  through  the  prayers  and 
sacraments  of  the  Church,  or  through  sermons  ;  or  it 
may  make  use  of  things  passing  before  our  eyes,  of 
events  in  public  or  private  life  ;  or,  again,  of  thoughts 
.  suggested  by  study  or  by  conversation.  Through  al) 
these  it  may  bring  about  conviction.  But,  by  what- 
ever means  the  truth  may  be  impressed  upon  us,  it  is 
the  Divine  Spirit  which  speaks  through  them ;  and 
when  we  are  in  contact  with  the  truth  itself,  the 
medium  is  of  little  importance.  The  influence  of  the 
Spirit  is  like  the  electric  current,  which  may  pass 
through  many  intricate  coils,  but  conveys  its  force 
and  flashes  its  bright  light  with  almost  equal  rapidity 
whether  the  conducting  medium  be  of  the  smallest  or 
the  greatest  length.  It  is  not  confined  to  any  special 
mode  of  operation,  nor  to  any  system,  nor  to  any 
class  of  men.  It  works  upon  all,  though  in  different 
ways  and  degrees  ;  and  we  can  appeal  with  confidence 
to  the  consciousness  which  all  men  have  of  its 
quickening  power,  of  the  light  which  lighteth  every 
man. 

It  is  not  only  as  an  enlightener  of  the  conscience 
that  the  Divine  Spirit  comes  to  us.  His  influence  is 
equally  felt  in  our  feeHngs  and  our  actions.  He 
quickens  all  our  powers.  When  once  we  are  con- 
vinced, and  drawn  towards  holiness,  our  faculties  are 
all  alive  and  sustained.  The  genial  warmth  makes 
the  life-blood  circulate  throughout  our  spiritual  frame. 
We  gain  quick  affections,  which  fasten  upon  the  good 
and   the   noble   everywhere.    We   have    power  to 


God  Immanent  in  Man  and  Nature.  205 

deny  ourselves,  because  our  better  self  has  been 
aroused,  and  we  come  to  feel  a  keener  delight  in 
goodness  and  truth  than  in  selfish  pleasure.  And 
we  are  sustained  in  a  persevering  effort  to  reach  the 
goal  of  our  spiritual  desires.  The  Divine  power 
urges  us  across  mountains  and  morasses,  for  we  see 
beyond  them  the  light  of  our  home. 

This  inspiration  is  also  a  social  power.  In  the 
general,  it  is  true  to  say  that  the  moral  instincts  of 
mankind  are  right,  and  the  people's  voice  is  the  voice 
of  God.  The  Church  in  all  its  branches  and  organisa- 
tions is  Divine.  But  we  must  not  stop  here.  The 
bonds  of  secular  society  are  also  Divine.  Friendship 
and  love  and  marriage,  family  ties  and  those  of 
country,  association  in  art  and  knowledge,  the 
organisation  which  exists  for  civil  and  political 
objects,  the  school,  the  college,  the  city,  the  nation, 
have  all  a  Divine  foundation  ;  for  their  object  is  that 
which  is  most  Divine,  that  union  of  spiritual  beings 
which  constantly  rises  into  love  ;  and  love,  says 
St.  John,  is  of  God,  for  God  is  love.  We  may  trace 
inspiration  yet  more  widely  ;  for  human  nature  and 
the  material  world  can  no  longer  be  separated,  and 
the  Divine  Spirit  and  purpose  can  be  seen  in  the 
harmony  which  is  made  by  their  union.  Nor  need 
we  fear  that  we  are  thus  tending  to  Pantheism,  if  we 
keep  firmly  grasped  the  fact  that  the  whole  is  one 
great  unity,  and  that  the  moral  purpose  is  its  essence, 
its  formal  and  final  cause.  There  is  nothing  strange 
in  our  having  affinity  with  the  brutes  and  the  herbs, 


2o6         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

with  the  rocks  and  the  waves,  if  we  acknowledge  one 
Spirit  which  works  through  the  whole  creation  till  it 
culminates  in  human  morality  and  the  cross  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  perception  of  this  is  one  of  the  highest 
effects  of  inspiration.  It  is  nothing  less  than  the 
Divine  thought  inwrought  in  our  minds,  the  Divine 
order  established  in  our  renewed  nature,  the  surest 
witness  that  we  are  made  in  the  image  of  God,  the 
spiritual  mind  by  which  we  see  each  part  of  the 
universe  in  its  relation  to  its  centre^  and  evolving 
itself  under  the  Divine  purpose  towards  complete 
organisation  and  perfect  harmony. 

2.  This  perception,  and  the  consciousness  that  our 
nature  is  the  special  organ  of  the  Divine  Spirit, 
begets  in  us  a  constant  aspiration.  Perhaps  it  would 
not  be  an  untrue  statement  of  the  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith  to  say  that  we  are  saved  by  aspira- 
tion. It  is  the  special  property  of  genuine  Chris- 
tianity not  to  be  contented  with  the  knowledge  or 
goodness  which  we  have  attained.  The  ideal  truth, 
the  ideal  goodness,  lies  ever  beyond.  If  we  take  the 
character  of  our  Lord,  to  which  alone  as  Christians 
we  can  be  pledged,  we  find  there  just  enough  to 
stimulate  the  longing  for  holiness — not  a  law,  not  a 
dogma,  not  a  rule,  but  a  Spirit  :  not  detail  enough  to 
make  a  model  which  we  can  copy,  nor  in  the  strict 
sense  an  example  which  we  can  imitate,  but  an 
expression  of  the  Divine  longing  which  uplifts  and 
redeems  mankind,  and  which  restores  the  broken 
harmony  of  the  world.     By  whatever  means  this 


God  Immanent  in  Man  and  Nature.  207 

Spirit  enters  into  us,  it  exerts  an  influence  over  all 
our  nature,  which  may  rightly  be  called  redemptive. 
We  learn  to  seek  those  things  which  are  above.  We 
can  perceive  and  express  the  best,  the  worthiest  side 
of  things.  Our  own  characters  are  ennobled  by  the 
thought  of  what  we  may  become  ;  our  peculiarities 
become  serious  bents  towards  special  forms  of  good- 
ness ;  our  bodily  and  mental  powers  are  transfigured 
into  spiritual  endowments  ;  our  common  pursuits 
become  part  of  the  process  by  which  we  are  trained 
for  the  higher  life  beyond  us  ;  our  studies,  part  of  the 
culture  by  which  a  worthier  state  is  attained  ;  the 
tests  and  rivalries  to  which  we  are  subjected,  not  in 
education  only,  but  all  through  life,  become  the 
means  of  gauging  our  progress.  And  as  we  go  on  we 
learn  to  take  part  in  the  redeeming  process  for  other 
men.  We  feel  that  it  is  not  for  ourselves  alone  that 
we  live  and  aspire,  but  by  our  sympathy  we  carry 
others  with  us.  For  this,  perhaps,  is  the  highest  form 
of  influence,  not  one  man  doing  good  to  another,  but 
one  holding  the  hand  of  his  brother,  as  saying,  "  Let 
us  aspire  together,  God  helping  us,  towards  that 
which  is  just  and  pure  and  true." 

A  second  inseparable  effect  of  this  aspiration  is 
spiritual  freedom.  There  can  be  no  constraint  where 
there  is  conviction  and  fearless  love  of  truth  and 
longing  for  goodness.  So  long  as  we  are  uncertain 
which  way  to  go,  we  walk  in  fetters,  we  hesitate,  we 
take  a  step  and  retrace  it.  You  may  observe  this  in 
speech.    Even  a  great  orator  halts  when  he  is  not 


2o8         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

clear  as  to  his  purpose.  When  you  read  aloud,  if 
you  have  not  caught  the  drift  of  the  writer,  you  read 
slowly  and  doubtfully.  But  when  the  purpose  is 
clear,  even  a  dull  man  becomes  eloquent.  So  it  is 
with  life  generally.  If  your  conscience  is  clear  and 
your  resolution  firm,  you  can  think  freely  and  act 
boldly.  And  he  that  trusts  that  this  world  is  all  of  a 
piece,  moving  with  one  central  impulse  of  which  his 
own  spirit  partakes,  feels  that  he  is  embarked  on  the 
central  current,  and  that,  whatever  difficulties  he  en- 
counters, they  are  but  as  the  rocks  which  deflect  the 
stream,  or,  at  most,  but  minor  backwaters  for  which 
he  can  make  allowance.  He  can  be  calm,  because  he 
is  fearless  ;  and  tolerant,  because  he  knows  that  all 
things  make  ultimately  in  the  direction  in  which  his 
face  is  set  ;  and  patient,  for  God  waits  long,  and  time 
is  generally  one  of  the  conditions  of  spiritual  success. 

A  third  effect  of  this  aspiration  is  constant  pro- 
gress. If  we  know  the  direction  in  which  we  are 
going,  and  are  free  from  the  constraint  which  waits 
on  ^T'lcertainty,  we  bend  all  our  energies  to  reach  the 
goal.  That  goal  for  ourselves  is  holiness  and  the 
image  of  Christ ;  and  the  stages  on  the  way  to  that 
goal  come  to  view  one  by  one  as  intermediate  objects 
of  our  pursuit.  We  make  progress,  we  may  humbly 
hope,  in  knowledge  and  in  power  as  our  faculties 
become  stronger ;  and  we  make  progress  in  ex- 
perience and  in  opportunities  of  doing  good  as  life 
wears  on.  We  can  appreciate  also  the  general  pro- 
gress of  mankind,  and  associate  ourselves  with  it;  and 


God  Immanent  in  Man  and  Nature.  209 


we  may  thus  escape  that  melancholy  condition  into 
which  some  of  the  greatest  minds  seem  especially 
liable  to  fall,  which  takes  no  pleasure  in  the  increasing 
mastery  of  man  over  nature  b}'  knowledge  and  inven- 
tions and  colonisation.  We  can  feel  a  genuine  thrill 
at  the  emancipation  of  those  who  are  downtrodden, 
and  the  advance  of  education  among  the  masses,  and 
the  increase  of  wealth  which  enables  the  poor  to  gain 
something  of  refinement.  We  can  see  that  in 
political  progress  there  is  involved  a  spiritual  pro- 
gress, the  progress  in  the  realisation  of  human 
brotherhood.  We  can  feel  also  that  all  true  progress 
is  one,  and  that  we  advance  in  union  with  the  whole 
race  of  mankind  under  the  impulse  and  direction  of 
the  Spirit  of  God. 

Let  us  apply  this,  lastly,  to  worship.  Aspiration 
is  the  soul  of  worship,  which  is  a  constant  rising 
towards  the  object  of  our  adoration.  Our  Lord  said, 
"They  that  worship  the  Father  must  worship  Him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth."  St.  Paul  said,  "  We  are  the  true 
circumcision  who  worship  God  in  the  spirit."  The 
true  worship  is  not  the  prostration  of  the  body  in 
kneeling,  nor  even  the  prostration  of  the  soul  in  dis- 
tant adoration,  but  the  yielding  of  our  living  powers 
willingly  and  gladly  to  the  Divine  influence  within  us. 
There  is  an  expression  of  the  great  stoical  emperor, 
Marcus  Aurelius.  who  perhaps  came  nearer  than  any 
other  non-Christian  of  the  West  to  the  Christian  life 
and  spirit  :  "  I  reverence  the  God  who  is  within." 
That  God  has  been  full}'  made  known  to  us  in  Jesus 
N 


210 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


Christ,  and  we  can  give  a  grander  significance  to  this 
expression.  Our  God  is  within  us.  Let  us  allow  our 
thoughts  to  be  enlightened  and  our  energies  quickened 
by  the  spirit  of  holiness — the  unseen,  constraining 
power  of  righteousness — and  we  are  practising  the 
true  worship.  As  to  the  outward  form,  though  it  is 
by  no  means  unimportant,  it  is  of  far  less  account. 
We  must  not  consider  that  religion  consists  in  church- 
going,  but  must  make  a  great  effort  to  raise  the  whole 
life  to  the  dignity  of  worship,  inspiring  every  part  of 
it  with  the  aspiration  towards  God.  There  are  some 
who  make  much  of  religious  services,  and  almost 
seem  to  identify  religion  with  them  ;  there  are  others 
who  think  religious  services  have  been  overdone,  and 
Avho  go  so  far  as  to  tell  us  that  there  are  those  who 
have  begun  to  be  real  Christians  from  the  time  when 
they  left  off  attending  Church.  There  are  those  who 
have  come  from  the  universities  to  do  Christian  work 
in  town  who  have  said  that  they  felt  as  if  in  the  former 
no  one  had  ever  believed,  and  in  the  latter  no  one  had 
ever  doubted,  dwelling,  no  doubt,  with  exaggerated 
weight  on  the  fact  that  a  certain  number  of  students  here 
have  thrown  off  the  habits  of  public  worship  in  which 
they  were  brought  up,  and  that  the  upper  and  middle 
classes  in  London  mostly  attend  the  Churches.  There 
are  those  to  whom  the  ordinary  services  are  the  very 
nourishment  of  their  spirits  ;  and  there  are  those  who 
have  felt,  like  our  two  great  Christian  poets,  Milton  and 
Cowper,  neither  of  whom  in  their  later  days  attended 
public  worship,  that  tne  outward  form  was  a  hin- 


God  Immanent  in  Man  and  Nature.  211 

drance  to  their  communion  with  God.  We  have 
again  to  say,  "  Neither  in  Jerusalem  nor  in  Gerizim, 
neither  in  circumcision  nor  in  uncircumcision  or, 
rather,  whether  by  church-going  or  by  not  going  to 
church,  through  old  forms  or  new — with  much  ritual 
or  with  little,  or  with  none — let  the  true  God,  who  is  a 
Spirit,  be  worshipped.  Make  your  choice  of  means  (for 
some  means  there  must  be),  not  by  caprice,  nor  in 
carelessness,  nor  in  the  desperate  plunge  of  a  fretful 
independence  or  of  a  sullen  despair,  but  according  to 
truth  and  reason,  the  dictates  of  conscience,  and  the 
drawings  of  sympathy.  Be  sincere ;  let  your  heart 
be  open  to  God  at  all  times  ;  let  your  service  be 
that  of  the  conscience  and  the  life  ;  and  your  eating 
and  drinking,  your  rising  up  and  lying  down,  your 
work  and  your  recreation,  your  studies,  your  whole 
life,  will  be  a  communion  with  God  the  Spirit,  a  sacri- 
fice, a  prayer,  an  unceasing  worship  in  spirit  and  in 
truth. 


N  2 


VIII. 

JnWIertual  piirduits;  anlr  tfte  W0)tv  lift. 


VIIL 


JnWIertual  ^aurduits;  anU  tijt  Ws^nv  Sife. 

{Preached  at  Balliol  College^  Oxfoi'd^  November  1872.) 


"  And  this  is  the  record,  that  God  hath  given  to  us  eternal  life,  and 
this  life  is  in  His  Son." — i  John  v.  ii. 


The  eternal  life  of  which  St.  John  speaks  is  a  Divine 
power,  a  quickening  spirit,  which  is  the  spring  of  all 
true  human  life.  It  is  the  point  at  which  the  life  of 
man  comes  in  contact  with  the  life  of  God,  who  is 
truth  and  love.  This  power,  having  once  gained  its 
adequate  expression  in  the  life  of  our  Lord,  now 
presents  itself  to  all  mankind,  seeking  to  actuate  each 
human  soul  as  it  actuated  our  Lord  Himself;  and 
becomes  in  all  who  do  not  through  insincerity  deny 
it  the  constant  stimulus  to  all  that  is  true  in  thought — 
to  all  that  is  good  in  act.  It  is  the  office  of  the  Chris- 
tian preacher  constantly  to  apply  this  stimulus,  that  the 
Divine  life  which  was  manifested  in  Christ  maybe  trans- 
ferred into  the  lives  of  those  with  whom  he  deals. 

I  am  addressing  a  company  of  students,  and  the 
studies  which  find  most  favour  in  Oxford  are  those 
which  are  specially  called  the  Literse  Humaniores,  or, 
as  the  Scotch  term  them,  the  "Humanities."  Human 
language,  the  forms  of  hum^an  thought,  the  philosophy 
of  human  relations  or  morality,  the  progress  of  these 


2i6         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

relations  worked  out  in  history  and  fixed  by  jurispru- 
dence, and  theology,  which  views  men  in  their  relation 
to  God — it  is  to  study  these  mainly  that  you  are  here. 
And  if  I  take  in  the  social  life  of  a  college,  which 
forms  one  of  its  chief  advantages,  this  is  but  the 
practical  side  of  that  which  in  its  larger  developments 
you  are  studying.  This  union  of  life  with  thought  is 
what  gives  such  a  charm  to  the  studies  of  this 
University.  But  it  also  brings  with  it  a  great  respon- 
sibility, for  it  makes  these  studies  infinitely  serious,  as 
bearing  directly  on  our  principles  and  conduct.  As 
you  decide  in  such  studies  as  these,  so  you  must  pray, 
and  so  you  must  live  when  you  go  out  into  the  world. 
There  is  a  habit  of  mind  which  takes  pleasure  in  the 
mere  discussion  of  views  about  life  apart  from  any 
solid  conviction,  and  against  this  it  is  necessary  to 
guard  ;  for  it  is  a  very  dangerous  thing  to  speculate 
lightly  upon  matters  of  human  interest.  Our  whole 
being  must  go  whither  our  thoughts  have  led.  To  a 
mind  once  awakened  to  the  greatness  of  the  issues 
involved  in  the  forty  or  fifty  years  that  lie  between 
boyhood  and  death,  every  fact  that  bears  on  his  own 
destiny  and  that  of  his  fellows  becomes  serious. 

This  seriousness  results  directly  from  the  con- 
sciousness which  is  aroused  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ — 
the  consciousness  of  God  and  of  immortality.  The 
eternal  life  is  one  in  which  God  is  ever  present  to  the 
conscience,  and  it  is  one  which  does  not  end  when  we 
die.  This  consciousness  is  profoundly  moral,  and  the 
parent  of  morality.    God  is  not  mere  force,  nor  is 


Intellectual  Pursuits  and  the  Higher  Life.  217 

eternity  mere  endlessness  ;  but  God  is  a  father  who 
loves  us,  and  who  is  training  us  by  constant  dis- 
cipline, a  power  of  good  with  whom  we  are  called  to 
co-operate.  And  the  immortality  which  Christ  has 
brought  to  light  is  not  a  negative  state  of  rest,  but  a 
scene  of  active  service — the  exercise  of  our  whole 
nature  in  a  sphere  into  which  sin  can  never  enter. 

This  eternal  life  it  is,  the  life  which  is  conscious  of 
God  and  of  immortality,  which  has  been  lived  on 
earth  by  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  And  His  life  is  not  to 
be  looked  on  as  merely  a  wonderful  exception,  but  as 
a  witness  that  this  eternal  life  is  the  heritage  of  all 
mankind.  It  is  the  light  that  lightens  every  man — 
the  life  which  has  been  manifested,  which  has  been 
declared  to  us,  that  we  may  have  fellowship  with  it. 
It  is  God  sending  His  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful 
flesh,  and  for  sin,  and  thereby  condemning  sin  in  the 
flesh — that  is,  it  shows  us  that  our  selfishness  is  not 
ineradicable.  We  are  meant  for  love,  not  for  self- 
pleasing;  and  we  have  a  hope  not  bounded  by  earthly 
interests,  "  A  new  heaven  and  earth,  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness."  It  is  no  dream  of  a  saint  which 
speaks  of  believers  as  incorporated  into  Christ.  That 
which  was  the  source  of  His  life,  the  consciousness  of 
God  and  eternity  which  made  Him  to  be  wholly 
devoted  to  truth  and  to  love,  becomes  also  most 
really  in  us  the  source  of  an  imperishable  longing  for 
the  truth  and  love  which  are  in  Him. 

It  may  be  impossible  for  us  to  define  with  any 
exactness  this  eternal  life.    Like  physical  life,  or  love, 


2i8         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

or  righteousness,  it  is  beyond  our  definitions.  And 
those  who  lay  stress  upon  the  Christian  life  rather 
than  upon  any  special  system  may  expect,  but  must 
calmly  accept,  a  charge  of  vagueness.  The  vague- 
ness is  that  of  the  subject  itself ;  and  it  is  not  in  this 
place  that  we  ought  to  need  to  be  reminded  that 
definitions  are  to  be  exacted  only  according  to  tl  e 
subject  matter.  The  great  things  of  the  human  spirit 
and  of  God  are  even  less  than  those  of  moral  science 
susceptible  of  the  exact  definitions  which  men  have 
unreasonably  sought  for.  But  this  does  not  make 
the  Christian  life  less  convinced  or  less  resolu'te.  It 
may  not  feel  able  to  pronounce  upon  questions  be- 
longing rather  to  the  domain  of  metaphysics  or  of 
historical  inquiry  than  to  what  is  truly  spiritual.  But 
it  will  not  say  less  confidently  that  God  is  light  and 
God  is  love,  and  that  nothing  mean  or  false  or  unkind 
can  possibly  proceed  from  Him,  or  be  tolerated  by 
His  children.  Here  is  the  true  field  for  the  positive- 
ness  and  the  vehemence  of  the  Christian  Spirit. 

But,  again,  this  positiveness,  which  subordinates 
all  our  being  to  the  paramount  demands  of  truth  and 
love,  is  no  narrow  feeling  exalting  one  part  of  human 
nature  to  the  disparagement  of  the  rest.  It  recog- 
nises human  nature  as  an  organic  whole,  and  puts 
the  head  where  the  head  should  be.  But  it  has 
sympathy  with  all  that  is  genuine  and  good,  wher- 
ever it  may  be  displayed.  It  recognises  the  germ 
and  the  yearning  where  there  is  -but  inadequate  fulfil- 
ment.   It  can  believe  that  Christ's  Spirit  has  been  at 


Intellectual  Pursuits  and  the  Higher  Life.  219 


work  where  Christ's  name  has  not  been  known.  It 
is  always  sure  that  truth  and  goodness  are  of  God 
wherever  they  may  be  found,  and  that  true  faith  is  no 
fettering  thing,  but  the  Hberator  of  the  spirit  of  man 
into  the  region  of  its  fuller  and  most  fruitful  develop- 
ment. If  at  times  Christianity  has  appeared  as  a 
one-sided  cultivation  of  parts  of  human  nature,  and 
has  fostered  a  self-sacrifice  which  cared  little  for  truth, 
or  a  sense  of  brotherhood  which  was  not  universal, 
this  is  because  its  adherents  have  belied  their  own 
principles.  But  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  eternal 
life — the  consciousness  of  God  and  of  immortality — 
is  the  true  support  and  stimulus  of  all  human  excel- 
lence, not  only  in  the  sphere  of  what  is  technically 
termed  religion,  but  in  the  realms  of  thought  and  of 
beauty.  Even  Schiller,  who  wished  to  restore  the 
graces  and  the  gods  of  Greece,  felt  that  their  loss  was 
compensated  to  the  poet  by  the  nobleness  of  chivalry, 
and  that  the  deep  thought  and  seriousness  of  Christi- 
anity had  been  fruitful  of  the  highest  graces  of  the 
Spirit.  The  ancient  civilisation,  no  doubt,  possessed 
great  treasures  of  science  and  of  art  ;  but  it  was  from 
want  of  the  spiritual  conviction  which  Christianity 
supplies  that  in  the  decadence  of  that  civilisation 
knowledge  became  rhetorical,  sceptical,  sectarian,  and 
superficial,  and  art  frivolous  and  servile.  It  is  not 
Christian  teachers  only  but  positive  philosophers  who 
have  shown  that  it  was  from  the  lack  of  a  spiritual 
bond  that  the  majestic  framework  of  Roman  power 
became  a  dull  and  oppressive  mechanism  instead  of 


2  20         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life, 


a  living  and  life-giving  organism.  The  simple 
brotherhood  of  the  catacombs,  not  those  who  reared 
the  palaces  of  Diocletian,  had  the  secret  of  the  know- 
ledge and  art  of  the  future,  as  well  as  of  its  political 
and  social  life,  in  their  hands.  It  is  our  part,  as 
Christians,  under  the  impulse  of  the  Divine  life,  to 
blend  into  one  the  great  heritage  of  the  past,  and  to 
use  the  appliances  of  the  present  day  for  the  en- 
lightenment and  elevation  of  our  brethren,  whatever 
be  the  sphere  to  which  it  pleases  God  to  call  us. 
We  have  not  to  make  the  vain  attempt  to  copy  the 
past  in  any  of  its  phases,  not  even  in  the  life  of  our 
Lord  ;  for  such  an  attempt  is  as  vain  as  that  other 
attempt  which  is  sometimes  made  in  our  day  to  ignore 
all  serious  religion  in  the  pursuit  of  physical  science 
or  of  artistic  culture.  But  we  have  to  bring  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  as  a  stimulus  to  bear  upon  the  acquisitions 
of  knowledge  and  the  conduct  of  life,  as  directing 
and  restraining,  indeed,  but  still  more  as  stimulating, 
in  all  the  regions  in  which  our  spirits  can  move. 

Let  me  endeavour  to  point  out,  aided  by  my  own  re- 
collections, how  college  life  may  aid  in  this  great  effort. 

I.  Let  our  studies  themselves  be  connected,  as 
they  readily  may  be,  with  that  higher  morality  which 
is  religion.  It  has  been  said  that  all  that  any  uni- 
versity can  teach  us  is  the  same  which  our  earliest  in- 
struction imparted — to  read  and  to  write — the  faculty, 
that  is,  of  acquiring  and  reproducing  knowledge. 
But,  while  we  may  admit  that  the  chief  result  to  be 
expected  in  our  training  is  the  perfecting  of  the 


Intellectual  Pursuits  and  the  Higher  Life.  221 

instrument  by  which  knowledge  is  gained  and  passed 
on  to  others,  this  can  only  be  effectually  done  by 
exercise  in  the  subjects  of  knowledge.  And,  in  the 
great  press  of  practical  work  in  later  life,  many  a 
man  looks  back  to  college  days  as  those  in  which  he 
gained  the  rudiments  of  knowledge  on  subjects  which 
he  has  afterwards  been  quite  unable  to  follow  out, 
but  which  he  still  aspires  to  and  greets  from  afar. 
And  where  detailed  information  cannot  be  acquired, 
yet  some  insight  into  the  general  principles  cannot 
fail  to  be  obtained  by  study.  But  it  is  just  these 
general  principles  which  come  closest  to  the  centre 
of  humanity,  and  which,  therefore,  can  most  easily  be 
brought  in  contact  with  the  Divine  life,  which  is  its 
basis.  For  instance,  in  the  study  of  moral  philosophy 
and  of  ancient  history,  how  can  any  man  whose  heart 
has  been  aroused  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  shown  forth 
in  Christ,  fail  to  ask  himself  continually  this  question 
■ — How  do  the  teachings  of  Plato  or  Aristotle,  or  of 
Kant,  or  of  Mill  harmonise  with  the  teachings  of 
Christ  and  His  Apostles  ?  How  can  I  trace  out  the 
partial  disclosures  of  God's  nature  and  will  towards 
mankind  in  other  histories  so  as  to  see  more  clearly 
and  to  estimate  aright  the  light  of  life  which  shines 
in  Jesus  Christ }  It  is  inquiry  such  as  this,  which  is  in- 
tenselypractical,that  gives  a  keener  relish  to  study  than 
all  the  honours  which  are  its  more  vulgar  incentives. 

This  leads  me  to  another  remark.  The  whole 
of  human  knowledge  hangs  together,  and  its  centre 
is  in  humanity  itself,  and  the  centre  of  humanity 


2  22         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

is  Christian  love.  Therefore,  let  all  knowledge,  even 
to  the  utmost  detail,  group  itself  round  the  acknow- 
ledged centre.  Seize  upon  each  piece  of  knowledge 
that  comes  to  you,  and  attach  it  to  your  own  life- 
Every  fact  has  something  Divine  in  it.  It  comes 
in  Code's  order,  and  may  be  brought  to  bear  in  some 
way  on  your  knowledge  of  men  and  your  own  work 
among  them.  It  is  easy  to  see  this  in  history  and 
in  literature,  for  that  alone  is  literary  w^hich  has  in 
some  way  to  do  with  human  nature.  But  even  in  the 
pursuit  of  physical  science,  it  is  evident  that  those 
branches  which  excite  the  liveliest  interest  are  those 
which  bear  upon  the  origin  and  destinies  of  men,  and 
that  the  rest  grow  in  importance  the  nearer  they  ap- 
proach to  contact  with  human  life.  Could  any  one 
devote  himself  to  chemistry  if  there  w^ere  no  such  thing 
as  organic  chemistry  }  Or  could  any  one  give  his  life 
to  geology  and  physical  geography  if  the  earth  were 
not  the  habitation  of  men  We  want  more  students 
in  England  who,  like  those  of  Germany,  will  make 
research  the  object  of  their  lives  ;  but  the  hope  of 
our  producing  them  lies  in  the  recognition  by  practical 
men  and  by  students  themselves  of  this  high  utili- 
tarianism which  sees  the  connexion  and  harmony  of  the 
Avorld,  and  invigorates  the  most  abstruse  studies  by  the 
sustaining  interest  of  their  bearing  upon  human  life. 

2.  Let  the  work  of  your  future  career  impart  a 
steadiness  to  your  work  at  college.  It  may  be  that 
it  is  not  possible  to  gain  at  the  University  much 
of  the  knowledge  which  will  be  of  use  in  professional 


Intellectual  Pursuits  and  the  Higher  Life.  223 


life.  I  incline  to  think  that  those  educated  here  have 
too  great  a  contempt  for  what  are  called  scraps  and 
smatterings  of  knowledge.  Yet  it  must  be  admitted 
that  this  is  not  the  place  for  technical  and  professional 
training.  If  we  have  gained  the  habit  of  deeper 
thought,  of  going  to  the  root  of  things,  of  doing 
thoroughly  what  we  do,  it  is  best.  But  this  is  aided, 
not  marred,  by  looking  on  beyond  college  days,  and 
fixing  our  aim  there.  It  is  aided  by  an  early  choice 
of  a  profession,  which  gives  a  reality  and  a  meaning 
to  all  that  is  being  done  here.  There  are  distractions, 
it  is  true,  in  the  world  of  business;  but  there  are  also 
dangers  of  dreaminess  in  a  student's  life.  I  remember 
one,  who  had  entered  with  zest  into  the  Oxford 
studies,  and  whose  danger  appeared  to  be  a  diffusion 
of  interests  and  an  unpractical  philanthropy,  being 
turned  to  a  life  of  earnest  effort  in  God's  service  by 
observing  how  men  of  business  concentrated  their 
energies  on  a  single  point,  and  how  in  the  advertise- 
ments which  were  meant  to  impress  the  minds  of  the 
people  two  or  three  words  alone  were  repeated  again 
and  again.  There  are  many  similar  wa}'s  in  which 
keeping  our  minds  fixed  on  the  real  work  of  life  may 
serve  as  a  corrective  or  as  a  stimulant  tc  the  work  of 
a  student. 

3.  But  this  practical  work  and  its  preparation 
here  must  be  viewed  in  its  highest  aspect.  We  must 
endeavour  to  purge  it  from  selfish  aims,  that  it  may 
be  in  union  with  the  eternal  life  of  God,  and  for 
this  the  society  of  a  college  and  university  affords 


2  24         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

peculiar  opportunities.  Here  the  sordid  interests  and 
distinctions  of  wealth  or  rank  are  to  a  great  extent 
held  in  abeyance  by  the  higher  interests  of  learning, 
and  the  freshness  of  youth  suggests  hopes  which 
readily  ally  themselves  with  the  noblest  aims.  The 
intercourse  which  a  college  fosters  is  the  freest,  the 
friendships  which  it  begets  the  most  intimate,  that 
can  exist  between  men.  And  when  young  men 
exchange  their  ideas  on  politics  or  business  or 
religion,  if  they  are  sometimes  wild  or  impracticable, 
they  are  rarely  tainted  by  the  ignoble  thought  of 
worldly  success.  It  is  a  golden  time  that  you  are 
traversing.  The  mere  pleasure  of  it  may  tempt  you 
to  dissipate  it  in  folly  ;  and  the  corruption  of  the  best 
may  become  the  worst.  Be  better  advised,  and  let 
its  happy  moments  excite  you  to  the  joy  of  unselfish 
thought  and  action  which  you  may  never  afterwards 
lose.  Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that,  where  so  much 
expansion  of  mind  and  heart  is  possible,  the  highest 
matters  of  religious  interest  may  not  be  left  so  much 
in  the  background,  where  they  become  unreal  and 
generate  misunderstanding,  and  that  those  who 
unite  so  freely  in  talking  of  books  that  interest  them, 
and  share  so  readily  the  aspirations  they  engender, 
may  at  times  join  in  the  devotional  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  may  value  the  opportunities  of 
common  prayer,  whether  in  public  or  in  private } 
These  are  surely  among  the  highest  incentives  and 
supports  of  a  noble  aim. 

They  are  also  among  the  best  preservatives  of 


Intellectual  Pursuits  and  the  Higher  Life.  225 

purity.  With  college  days  there  are  mixed  up  in 
very  many  cases  the  associations  of  reckless  folly  and 
evil  communications  ;  and  men  often  fail  through 
fancying  that  almost  every  one  of  their  companions  is 
yielding,  or  else  through  a  kind  of  pride  or  disdain 
which  forgets  how  closely  every  thing  that  is  best  in 
human  nature  is  associated  with  purity.  Let  us  recal 
ourselves  constantly  to  the  thought  that  we  belong  to 
Christ.  Let  us  look  on  into  life  as  a  life  for  God,  as 
a  life  of  duty,  and  the  thought  of  this  will  elevate  u.> 
beyond  the  temptations  which  idleness  and  frivolity 
inevitably  bring.  We  may  hope  that  our  students 
may  deserve  increasingly  the  praise  which  even  now 
a  great  French  writer  gives  them,  who  observes  how 
much  less  a  hold  impurity  and  moral  scepticism  have 
upon  the  English  Universities  than  on  those  of  his 
own  country. 

One  other  point  I  will  urge,  in  which  the  associa- 
tions of  the  University  may  greatly  conduce  to  a  true 
Christian  life  :  I  mean  the  charitable  judgment  which 
they  induce  in  religious  matters.  Men  come  here 
often  from  homes  or  schools  in  which  a  particular 
kind  of  religion  has  been  taught.  But  they  come,  for 
the  most  part,  with  open  minds.  They  soon  learn, 
through  the  close  intercourse  of  this  place,  that  men 
of  the  most  opposite  views  from  those  in  which  they 
have  been  brought  up  are  yet  serious  and  religious 
men.  This  is  a  most  valuable  experience,  and  no 
amount  of  disagreement  or  controversy  ought  to 
make  us  forget  it.  With  some,  no  doubt,  it  may 
O 


226         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

issue  in  a  mere  change  of  front,  or  in  passing  over 
from  one  polemical  camp  to  another  ;  but,  for  the 
most  part,  I  trust  it  issues  in  a  chastening  of  the 
judgment,  in  a  more  modest  estimate  of  our  own 
advantages  and  a  higher  one  of  the  advantages  we 
have  yet  to  gain,  in  a  willingness  to  honour  real 
goodness  wherever  it  may  be  found.  If,  in  addition, 
it  can  help  us  in  presenting  to  our  minds  a  truer 
image  of  Christ,  and  incite  us  to  a  burning  love  of 
the  truth  and  justice  and  kindness  which  were  in 
Him,  while  teaching  us  to  see  through  the  peculiar 
tenets  about  which  the  parties  are  wrangling,  it  will 
have  yielded  us  the  best  of  the  fruits  of  righteous- 
ness. 

God  has  given  us  eternal  life,  and  this  life  is  in 
His  Son.  Let  us  accustom  ourselves  to  think  of  the 
life  of  God  as  taking  shape  and  body  by  contact  with 
the  actual  life  of  men  ;  and  let  our  prayer  be  that, 
through  communion  with  God  and  with  Christ,  we 
may  have  the  eternal  life  dwelling  in  us,  and  may 
show  to  the  world  that  the  Christian  spirit  is  neither 
that  of  eager  contention  for  what  is  unreal  or  disput- 
able, nor  a  contemptuous  intellectualism,  but  humble 
truthfulness  and  love,  patiently  wrought  out  in  a 
reverent  and  dutiful  life. 


IX. 


IX. 


{Preached  before  the  University  of  Oxford^  Whit- Sunday^  1871.) 


"Nevertheless  I  tell  you  the  truth  ;  it  is  expedient  for  you  that  1 
go  away  :  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you  ; 
but  if  I  depart,  I  will  send  Him  unto  you." — John  xvi.  7. 


These  words,  which  are  so  closely  connected  with 
the  great  event  of  Whitsuntide,  form  the  ground  on 
which  we  may  claim  a  right  to  speak  of  the  Christian 
religion  as  emphatically  the  religion  of  progress. 
They  describe  a  progress  from  a  state  of  tutelage 
to  a  state  of  maturity — a  progress  which  at  the 
moment  was  painful,  but  which  was  really  beneficial 
for  the  believers  in  our  Lord.  That  had  been  a 
blissful  state  which  they  had  before  enjoyed,  when 
they  had  their  Lord  present  with  them,  and  were 
guided  by  His  voice  and  eye  ;  and  the  disciples 
naturally  desired,  like  Peter  at  the  Transfiguration, 
to  build  a  tabernacle  for  themselves  where  they  were. 
But  they  had  to  learn  that  that  was  not  the  best 
state  for  them.  It  was  to  be  broken  up  in  a  moment, 
and  they  were  to  pass  on  to  a  better  state  beyond, 
in  which  Christ  would  be  with  them,  not  in  outward 
presence,  but  through  the  Spirit. 


230         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

This  is  not  an  isolated  fact,  but  a  great  principle 
of  the  spiritual  life.  It  is  better  to  be  led  by  an 
inward  influence  than  by  any  external  rule  or  system. 
It  is  better  to  have  those  feelings  within  us  which  will 
prompt  us  to  right  thought  or  action  than  to  be  told 
what  to  think  or  to  do  by  any,  even  the  wisest  and 
most  divine.  And  this  substitution  of  the  inward  for 
the  outward  guidance  is  a  process  which  constantly 
goes  on,  as  God  reveals  Himself  by  the  Spirit  more 
and  more.  It  is  a  principle  which  finds  continually 
new  applications,  fresh  springing  developments.  For, 
though  at  the  day  of  Pentecost  the  believers  gained  a 
glimpse  into  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  were  pos- 
sessed by  the  powers  of  the  w^orld  to  come,  yet  the 
Church  has  had  to  live  out  its  life  amidst  worldly 
influences,  and  is  ever  reaching  on  by  stumbling 
steps,  groping  in  the  twilight,  towards  that  Kingdom 
which  was  then  opened  out  to  its  view.  As  a  man 
who  looks  across  a  valley  sees  the  mountain  tops  on 
the  other  side  as  though  they  were  very  near,  and  yet 
afterwards  has  to  win  his  way  thither  through  the 
darkness  of  the  valley,  in  which  he  often  loses  sight 
of  the  object  towards  which  he  is  advancing,  so  it  has 
been  with  development  of  the  Church's  life  in  its 
progress  through  time.  We  are  nearer  to  the  full 
salvation,  even  if  we  fail  to  perceive  it  as  vividly  as 
the  Apostles  did.  But  the  object  which  kindled  in 
them  such  high  hopes  must  kindle  them  also  in  us. 
We  are  making  progress  towards  that  object.  We  are 
appropriating  more  fully  the  Divine  life,  and  possess- 


"  jPj^oghess" 


231 


ing  more  completely  the  spiritual  blessings  for  which 
the  first  believers  hoped.  At  each  stage  of  our  pro- 
gress the  thought  is  suggested  to  us  again,  "  Let  us 
rest  where  we  are,  let  us  make  ourselves  a  rule  of  the 
past  or  the  present  state ;  for  it  has  been  at  least  fairly 
good,  and  we  cannot  expect  to  be  better  than  our 
fathers."  Then  comes  the  truer  voice,  which  says,  *'No! 
Onward  lies  the  path.  In  progress  alone  is  blessedness 
to  be  found.  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  the  present 
condition  of  things,  the  discipline  which  has  trained 
you,  the  circumstances  that  are  familiar  to  you,  the 
customs  into  which  you  have  grown,  the  persons  even 
whom  you  have  trusted,  should  pass  away  ;  for  so 
alone  can  your  spiritual  powers  be  fully  called  forth, 
and  the  Kingdom  of  God  be  within  you." 

Let  us  define  to  ourselves  what  we  mean  by 
progress  ;  for  the  word,  it  must  be  allowed,  often 
suggests  vague,  and  sometimes  unchristian  and 
merely  negative,  ideas.  We  must  set  before  us  as 
plainly  as  we  can  the  goal  towards  which  we  hope 
to  advance.  I  understand,  then,  that  the  end  to 
which  God  designs  us  to  attain  is  the  full  possession 
and  exercise  of  our  true  relations  both  towards  God 
and  towards  one  another.  This  implies,  in  the  indi- 
vidual, a  development  of  every  power  which  connects 
him  with  God  or  men,  the  growth  (in  the  language  of 
Scripture)  into  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fulness  of  Christ."  It  implies,  in  the  larger  sphere 
of  God's  purposes,  a  harmony  of  all  souls  and  of 
all  created  things,  each  fulfilling  its  own  function 


232 


The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


under  the  inspiration  of  Supreme  Love — a  state 
which  is  described  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  "  That 
in  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  time  He  might 
gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both 
which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  in  earth."  This 
object,  though  developed  fully  by  St.  Paul  in  the 
Epistles  to  the  Ephesians  and  the  Colossians,  yet 
is  found  in  germ  in  the  earlier  teaching.  It  is  implied 
in  the  words  of  our  Lord  Himself  at  the  Ascension  : 
"  All  power  is  given  Me  in  heaven  and  in  earth.-" 
It  is  implied  in  the  preaching  of  the  Apostles  at 
Pentecost,  when  they  proclaim  that  Christ  is  exalted 
to  the  supreme  place  in  the  universe.  It  is  implied 
in  the  whole  teaching  as  to  the  Logos  in  St.  John, 
w^hich  certainly  is  not  only  a  formative  or  efficient 
principle,  but  also  a  final  cause,  an  object  towards 
which  the  whole  creation  tends.  He  in  whom  the 
world  is  made  is  also  its  destined  Lord. 

Is  the  conception  thus  put  before  us  as  our  final 
goal  one  which  can  be  made  the  practical  object  of 
the  efforts  of  finite  beings  }  or  is  it  too  vast  for  our 
realisation  Vast  it  is,  stupendous  ;  but  not  there- 
fore vague.  The  true  reason,  God^s  organ  within  us, 
can  conceive  it  and  work  it  out.  Doubtless  it  in- 
volves a  resolute  entering  into  the  Divine  purposes, 
a  placing  of  ourselves,  so  to  speak,  at  God's  stand- 
ing-point. But  we  have  the  right  and  the  power 
to  do  this,  for  we  are  called  the  friends  of  God.  The 
revelation  is  given  us  that  we  may  make  it  our 
own  and  shape  our  course  with  a  view  to  it.  It 


Progress  " 


233 


is  vast,  it  is  all-embracing ;  but  none  the  less  it  is 
clear  to  our  spirits,  and  they  know  no  other  rest- 
ing-place. We  are  mariners  at  sea  in  the  evening, 
but  the  coast  before  us  bears  on  it  the  great  and 
brilliant  city  which  is  our  bourne ;  and  if  it  be 
necessary  to  keep  our  eye  fixed  on  the  lighthouse  in 
the  centre,  none  the  less  the  heart  takes  in  the  whole 
scene,  with  its  loved  companies  and  its  noble  build- 
ings, and  with  all  that  is  included  in  the  dear  names 
of  country  and  of  home. 

It  is  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  which  is  our  goal ;  and 
we  can  aim  at  no  smaller  object.  Fixing  our  eyes 
on  this,  we  direct,  yet  we  overpass,  the  desires  for 
personal  forgiveness,  for  individual  sanctification,  the 
bounds  of  sect  and  party,  the  limitations  of  our 
country  and  our  age.  Looking  at  this,  we  surmount 
the  barriers  which  separate  one  Church  from  another, 
the  spiritual  from  the  secular  spheres,  the  history  of 
the  Church  from  that  of  mankind,  the  sphere  of 
mental  and  physical  knowledge.  The  great  goal  to 
which  we  look  is  the  goal  of  them  all  ;  their  limita- 
tions are  but  of  the  moment;  their  harmony  is  assured 
in  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  the  Spirit. 

But  while  the  goal  is  thus  all-embracing,  it  is  the 
moral  and  spiritual  principle  which  is  the  centre  ;  it 
is  love  which  is  the  germinal  spot  from  which  all  the 
rest  is  developed.  The  Kingdom  of  God  spreads  out  on 
all  sides;  but  its  capital,  its  central  principle,  is  found 
in  these  words  of  St.  Paul :  "  The  Kingdom  of  God  is 
righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost." 


234 


'I HE  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


When  we  define,  as  the  goal  of  our  practical 
efforts,  the  attainment  and  exercise  of  true  moral 
relations,  we  must  not  fritter  away  our  conception  by- 
dwelling  on  those  relations  separately,  nor  yet  as  a 
mere  inorganic  aggregate,  but  distinguish  carefully, 
as  the  living  centre  of  them,  the  great  spiritual  affec- 
tions— towards  God  repentance  and  trust,  towards 
men  justice  and  beneficence ;  and  these  combined  in 
the  one  word  love.  All  the  relations  of  man,  whether 
towards  God  or  towards  his  fellows,  are  but  expres- 
sions of  love  ;  all  our  true  efforts  on  earth  are  the 
striving  after  those  relations  which  love  brings  about 
between  spiritual  beings.  And,  moreover,  all  these 
separate  relations  are  subject  to  change,  while  love 
itself  remains.  It  is  true  that  love  cannot  subsist  as 
an  abstraction  ;  he  must  gain  a  home  in  the  unfold- 
ing of  the  several  relations  of  humanity  ;  but  this 
home  he  builds  for  himself  The  relations  and  insti- 
tutions of  the  Christian  life  are  begotten  by  love, 
not  love  by  them.  They  change  from  age  to  age, 
but  love  survives.  Suspend  their  operation  for  a 
time  ;  nay,  sweep  them  away,  if  you  can  ;  yet  love 
will  build  them  up  again  and  again. 

The  perfect  type  of  these  relations  which  are  the 
object  of  all  our  progress  is  disclosed  to  us  in  the 
historical  life  of  our  Lord.  He  declares  to  us  the 
love  of  God.  He  shows  us  what  it  is  to  live  the  life 
of  sonship  towards  God.  He  exemplifies  the  life  of 
a  brother  among  His  fellow-men.  Lastly,  He  shows 
us,  through  His  Kingly  leadership,  the  spectacle  of  a 


Progress. 


^35 


society  knit  together  in  the  bonds  of  a  common 
attachment  to  their  head,  and  through  Him  to  one 
another.  And  all  this  He  has  done,  not  merely  in 
idea,  nor  in  precept,  but  in  actual  fact.  He  has 
shown  us  that  the  thing  is  possible.  God  sending 
His  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  has  condemned 
sin  in  the  flesh." 

Now  it  might  at  first  seem  as  if  this  would  lead 
us  simply  to  go  back  to  the  Christ  once  manifested  in 
history  ;  and,  instead  of  moving  hopefully  forward,  to 
bend  back  our  energies  and  cramp  our  ideas  by  the 
circumstances  of  the  life  of  our  Lord.  Accordingly, 
it  has  been  argued  that  the  Incarnation  is  the  very 
doctrine  of  immobility,  nay,  of  reaction  ;  that  its 
effect  must  necessarily  be  to  fill  men  with  a  longing 
for  the  past,  not  for  the  future,  to  make  them  timid 
and  sceptical  as  to  all  possibility  of  progress  ;  that 
the  believer  in  a  Christ  who  has  fulfilled  all  righteous- 
ness is  a  believer  in  a  humanity  which  has  exhausted 
itself ;  and  that  all  hopes  for  the  future  are  thus 
benumbed  beforehand  by  the  belief  that  they  have  all 
been  anticipated  in  the  one  career  of  highest  excel- 
lence, from  which  all  subsequent  life  must  be  a 
decline.  We  must  admit,  with  sorrow,  that  Christians 
have  often,  by  their  timid  conduct  and  want  of  spirit, 
given  too  much  colour  to  this  supposition.  But 
where  they  have  done  so,  they  have  gone  in  the  teeth 
of  the  whole  teaching  of  our  Lord  about  the  Com- 
forter. Christ's  historical  life  was  not  meant  to  be 
the  end.     Christ  has  passed  away  from  the  outer 


236         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

presence  that  His  life  may  no  longer  be  a  law  of  the 
letter  to  His  followers,  but  that  the  spirit  of  His  life 
may  become  the  spirit  of  their  lives  in  all  their  ever- 
varying  phases. 

Christ's  life,  as  disclosed  to  our  hearts  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  is  a  great  ideal  which  is  always  before 
us.  We  have  apprehended  it  in  some  sort,  but  we 
are  occupied  all  our  life  in  growing  towards  it.  St. 
Paul,  while  he  declared  that  Christ  had  become  his 
righteousness,  yet  described  himself  as  ever  pressing 
on  towards  that  righteousness.  "  That  I  may  be 
found  in  Him,"  he  says,  ''that  I  may  have  the 
righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  faith,  that  I  may 
know  Him  and  the  power  of  His  resurrection.  .  .  . 
Forgetting  those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reach- 
ing forth  unto  those  things  which  are  before,  I  press 
towards  the  mark." 

The  life  of  Christ,  again,  as  brought  home  to  our 
souls  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  a  stimulus  to  our  faculties. 
This  is  the  very  meaning  of  the  title  Comforter — the 
supporter  and  strengthener.  The  Lord,"  says  St. 
Paul,  "is  the  Spirit."  O  Y^vpio^  roirveviJid  eari.  Christ 
has,  by  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  become  the  quickener 
of  all  our  independent  powers.  It  is  not  so  much 
some  new  ideal  of  life  which  is  brought  to  us  from 
without ;  but  rather  a  gathering  up  of  all  that  is 
good  and  true  in  our  nature,  the  constant  presenta- 
tion of  this  to  the  conscience  as  the  object  of  desire, 
and  the  sustaining  of  every  noble  impulse  which  can 
urge  us  on  to  attain  it.    You  cannot  make  use  of  our 


Progress" 


237 


Lord's  example  or  precepts  for  any  other  purpose 
than  this.  You  cannot  make  Him  a  mere  model 
or  rule  to  be  followed  without  reference  to  cir- 
cumstances and  common  sense.  Those  who  have 
tauntingly  said  that  if  we  believe  in  Christ  we 
should  drive  out  profane  men  from  our  sacred 
buildings  with  a  scourge,  or  address  our  adversaries 
as  serpents  and  a  generation  of  vipers,  have  as 
much  travestied  the  significance  of  Christ's  example 
as  those  who  choose  on  Maundy  Thursday  to  wash 
the  feet  of  a  few  beggars.  And  those  who  see  in 
the  words  about  the  tribute  money  a  demand  for 
the  separation  of  men's  moral  life  into  two  distinct 
spheres  are  as  mistaken  as  those  who  deduce  from 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  the  wrongfulness  of 
oaths  or  of  self-defence.  It  is  the  spirit,  not  the 
letter,  of  .Christ's  words  and  deeds  which  has  to  be 
transferred  into  our  lives. 

But  when  we  come  seriously  to  attempt  this,  who 
is  there  that  does  not  feel  himself  embarked  in  a 
course  which  can  only  be  described  as  one  of  constant 
and  illimitable  progress  ^  There  gleams  before  us 
an  ideal  of  personal  excellence,  the  form  of  a  human 
being  who  is  wholly  unselfish,  utterly  devoted  to  the 
truth,  to  man,  to  God.  What  discredit  this  must 
throw  on  our  present  condition,  however  good  it  may 
have  seemed  to  be  ;  nay,  what  longing  for  change, 
for  progress  towards  better  things  !  \\'e  know  that  we 
shall  be  like  it  one  day  ;  but  as  yet  we  cannot  even 
conceive  that  likeness  to  the  full.   Yet  we  know  that 


238         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

it  is  only  by  contemplating  that  "  idea  of  the  good  " 
that  we  make  any  real  progress  :  by  this  alone  we 
are  purified  more  and  more,  our  spirits  are  "  changed 
from  glory  to  glory,  as  by  the  Lord  the  Spirit."  We 
trace  out  an  ideal  of  truth,  a  state  in  which  we  shall 
gaze  on  things  as  they  really  are,  freed  from  the  mists 
of  prejudice.  But  He  that  said  "I  am  the  truth" 
has  not  given  us  all  truth  ready-made,  but  wills  that 
we  should  follow  Him  through  scenes  in  which  we 
"  see  through  a  glass  darkly,"  and  "  know  nothing 
yet  as  we  ought  to  know."  We  form  an  ideal  of 
a  holy  society  in  which  each  individual  will  take 
his  true  place;  but  it  is  a  kingdom  which  is  not 
of  this  world,  and  it  must  be  sought,  not  in^  but 
across  and  beyond  each  stage  of  human  society  which 
inadequately  strives  to  represent  it. 

The  first  partakers  of  the  gift  of  Pentecost  saw 
all  the  heavens  and  the  earth  trembling  around  them. 
The  whole  moral  world  was  in  a  flux.  The  solid 
fabric  of  Judaism,  which  had  been  like  the  ground 
beneath  men's  feet  and  the  firmament  above  their 
heads,  was  giving  way  on  all  sides.  "  I  will  show 
wonders  in  heaven  above,  and  signs  in  the  earth 
beneath,  blood  and  fire,  and  vapour  of  smoke." 
The  first  century,  much  more  than  the  nineteenth, 
was  an  era  of  revolutions.  The  second  outburst 
of  inspired  life,  in  the  time  of  Stephen,  went  back 
upon  the  Old  Testament,  and  saw  that  also  as  a 
scene  of  constant  progress  and  change.  Then  came 
St.  Paul,  by  whose  influence  the  infant  community 


Progress." 


239 


burst  its  Jewish  swathing  bands,  and  grew  into  the 
Catholic  Church.  And  the  Revelation  of  St.  John 
and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  look  on  to  constant 
changes,  the  shaking,  not  of  the  earth  only,  but  also 
of  heaven,  that  those  things  alone  which  cannot  be 
shaken,  the  eternal  city  of  God,  may  remain.  The 
line  of  progress  which  the  Apostolic  age  thus  in- 
augurated has  never  been  left,  though  the  Church 
has  often  been  dragged  on  rather  than  advanced, 
with  its  face  towards  the  ever-receding  past.  It  is 
the  part  of  true  faith  to  make  this  progress  con- 
scious and  resolute  :  to  admit  the  pain  which  this 
progress  necessarily  gives,  but  to  cheer  us  on  by 
the  assurance  that  it  is  expedient  for  us  that  suc- 
cessive phases,  excellent  though  they  may  have 
seemed,  should  pass  away,  and  that,  if  we  be  but 
steadfast  and  sincere,  the  true  blessedness  lies  before 
us. 

Let  me  apply  this  to  three  spheres  :  ist,  To  the 
pursuit  of  truth  ;  2ndly,  To  the  constitution  of  the 
Church  ;  3rd]y,  To  our  personal  lives.  Progress  is 
the  law  in  each. 

I.  It  is  sometimes  doubted  whether  in  theology 
proper  there  is  such  a  thing  as  progress.  On  a  recent 
occasion,  of  much  importance  to  our  branch  of  the 
Church,  it  was  said,  with  apparent  assent  on  all 
sides,  that  "while  science  was  progressive,  and  its 
interest  must  go  on  increasing,  theology  was  of  its 
very  nature  stationary,  the  relations  of  God  with 
man  standing  now  in  the  same  position  as  they  did 


240         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


5,000  years  ago."^  Is  it  presumptuous  to  traverse  and 
deny  that  statement,  and  to  believe  that  new  light 
must  constantly  be  coming  to  us  so  long  as  God 
discloses  His  purposes  by  changing  circumstances, 
and  the  experience  of  mankind  is  constantly  growing  ? 
The  statement  that  theology  is  non-progressive  is 
only  true  so  far  as  we  wilfully  abstract  and  separate 
theology  from  life,  and  from  other  fields  of  thought ; 
and  I  venture  to  think  that  the  truest  progress  is 
that  which  is  being  forced  upon  us  by  the  constant 
demand  that  we  should  be  real,  and  that  we  should 
show  at  every  step  a  connection  between  the  theo- 
logical conceptions  which  we  propound  and  the 
actual  life  of  men. 

A  Scotch  theologian  who  spent  his  short  life  in 
pursuing  a  higher  truth  than  had  been  attained  by  his 
countrymen,  and  died  while  pursuing  it,  said  that  he 
thought  we  might  trace  in  the  theology  of  the  last 
three  centuries  a  progress  corresponding  with  the 
words,  the  way,"  "  the  truth,"  and  "  the  life."  "  The 
way,"  which  had  been  obscured  in  the  middle  ages, 
was  pointed  out  afresh  by  the  great  outburst  of  light 
at  the  Reformation.  Then  came  the  effort  to  probe 
and  draw  out  "  the  truth,"  producing  detailed  and 
often  conflicting  systems  ;  but  now  we  are  coming  to 
view  religious  truth  more  simply  in  its  relation  to 
"life." 

*  These  words  were  used  by  Mr.  Bruce,  now  Lord  Aberdare,  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Miall's  motion  for 
disestablishment. 


OGRESS." 


241 


Is  not  this  the  tendency  on  all  hands  in  the 
present  day  ?  The  criticism  is  often  made,  and 
received  with  much  alarm,  that  there  never  was  an 
age  which  more  fully  believed  in  the  moral  side  of 
Christianity,  nor  one  which  was  less  disposed  to 
accept  the  historical  facts  or  dogmatic  statements 
in  which  it  has  been  enshrined.  I  think  the  criticism 
is  to  a  large  extent  true  ;  and  it  represents,  no  doubt, 
a  state  of  some  confusion  and  vacillation.  But  does 
it  not  point  us  to  this — that  the  first  duty  of  theology 
in  our  day  is  to  show  its  bearing  upon  life,  and  that 
the  moral  elements  are  being  recognised  as  the  living 
centre  round  which  all  the  rest  should  group  them- 
selves }  We  need  not  take  sides  in  a  supposed 
conflict  between  dogmatic  theology  and  the  Christian 
life  ;  but  we  must  imperatively  bring  them  into  har- 
mony, and  subject  all  we  say  about  God  and  Christ 
to  the  constant  test  of  a  living  experience.  Let 
theology  begin,  not  with  the  creation,  but  with  the 
life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ;  let  it  lay  stress,  not 
primarily  on  such  propositions  as  these,  that  God 
is  omniscient,  omnipresent,  omnipotent,  but  rather 
upon  these,  that  God  is  love,  and  that  Christ  is  the 
manifestation  of  the  Divine  life  of  love  to  men  ;  and 
then  we  shall  cease  to  come  into  collision  with  the 
great  convictions  of  mankind  ;  we  shall  begin  at 
least  with  having  these  convictions  as  our  allies. 
May  we  not  believe  that  one  great  work  of  the 
Divine  Comforter  in  the  present  day  is  to  be  seen  in 
the  inducing  of  so  general  a  consensus  as  we  witness 
P 


242         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

to  the  belief  that  a  life  of  self-renouncing  love  is  the 
only  true  life  to  be  lived  by  man  on  earth  ?  Hardly 
a  moral  writer,  of  whatever  school,  nay,  hardly  a 
writer  of  tales  of  fiction,  and  hardly  a  political  thinker, 
but  bears  witness  in  some  way  to  this  conviction — 
and  this,  whether  or  not  they  connect  this  conviction 
with  its  true  spring  in  the  Cross  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Why  should  we  not  welcome  this  fact  as  our  chief 
ally,  and,  from  the  circle  of  light  and  love  which 
is  thus  gained  to  us  all  in  common,  endeavour  by  a 
united  effort  to  clear  up  the  mysteries  which  have 
been  expressed  by  the  clashing  dogmas  of  the  past  ? 

I  am  indicating  a  method,  not  a  system.  And,  if 
it  be  a  true  one,  it  implies  the  most  perfect  freedom 
for  every  form  of  thought — freedom,  I  mean,  not 
merely  according  to  laws,  but  the  freedom  which 
comes  from  mutual  trustfulness.  We  have  found  a 
sure  and  acknowledged  standing-ground  in  the  Chris- 
tian life  of  self-renouncing  love,  the  reflection  of  the 
Cross  of  Christ.  Grounded  on  this,  we  need  not  be  so 
nervously  anxious  about  the  rest.  Nay,  we  must 
expect  new  light  in  all  departments.  And  yet,  how 
often  do  we  witness  the  melancholy  fact  that  one 
who  has  some  light  to  give  upon  some  region  of  truth 
is  met  by  the  question,  "  Do  you,  in  the  ultimate 
result,  hold  by  this  or  that  received  opinion "  and, 
"  if  not,"  it  is  added,  "  we  will  have  nothing  to  say  to 
you."  And  then  the  man  takes  you  at  your  word, 
and  comes  to  believe  that  his  views  inevitably  clash 
with  some  great  received  truths,  and  he  is  driven  into 


Progress" 


243 


heresy,  and  you  lose  the  help  which  you  might  have 
gained  from  him.  And,  meanwhile,  though  it  is  sup- 
posed that  truth  as  a  system  has  been  the  gainer  by 
this  barren  victory,  truthfulness,  which  is  the  most 
marked  feature  of  the  Spirit's  work,  has  suffered  irre- 
trievably. We  want,  among  educated  men  such  as 
those  whom  I  now  address,  more  tolerance  of  opinion^ 
more  patience  of  the  bearing  of  various  forms  of 
thought  upon  the  great  realities  of  our  existence  ; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  much  more  carefulness  as  to 
our  own  sincerity  in  our  dealings  and  our  influence  in 
such  matters. 

Nay,  more:  Why  should  it  be  the  case  that  the 
attitude  of  Christians  towards  new  discoveries  should 
almost  always  be  that  of  suspicion  and  timidity  ?  and 
that,  even  when  impartial  persons  are  convinced. 
Christians  should  often  be  the  last  instead  of  the  first 
to  yield  to  the  true  conviction  It  indicates,  surely, 
a  wrong  condition  of  mind.  We  smile  as  we  read 
that  Bishop  Horne  and  his  friends  in  the  beginning 
of  the  last  century  formed  a  Society  at  Oxford  for  the 
purpose  of  resisting  on  religious  grounds  the  dis- 
coveries of  Xewton.  But  the  aggregate  of  such 
attempts  should  cost  us  more  than  a  smile.  I  am 
ashamed  to  think  that,  in  reference  to  the  greatest 
triumphs  in  political  life  and  in  the  physical  sciences, 
at  almost  every  stage  Christians  have  been  merely 
driven  to  acquiesce,  and  to  discover  as  an  after- 
thought a  reconciliation  between  the  new  ideas  and 
those  which  they  had  advocated.  I  rejoice  in  the 
P  2 


244         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

reconciliation,  but  I  am  ashamed  that  there  should 
ever  have  been  the  war.  The  war  has  arisen  from 
the  overvaluing  of  the  outward  integuments,  the 
undervaluing  of  the  truth  itself.  It  is  time  that  we 
should  awake,  by  the  constant  teachings  of  experi- 
ence, from  our  injurious  attitude :  that  the  Church 
should  become,  not  the  check,  but  the  constant  and 
trustful  stimulant  of  the  freest  thought.  Why  should 
we  always  think  that  the  sphere  in  which  we  move 
is  so  narrow  that  we  dare  not  advance  lest  we  should 
run  against  the  boundaries  May  not  the  boun- 
daries be  enlarged  Or  rather,  are  we  sure  that 
there  are  any  boundaries  at  all  in  the  direction  in 
which  we  are  looking  1  May  it  not  be  that  what  we 
have  taken  for  the  necessary  limits  of  our  system  is 
only  a  certain  dimness  which  will  clear  away  if  we 
go  boldly  on 

We  fear  lest  some  statement  which  seems  to  us  a 
pillar  of  the  whole  edifice  of  truth  should  be  over- 
thrown. It  is  not  the  statement,  but  the  principle,  for 
which  we  ought  to  be  jealous.  We  set  out,  perhaps, 
like  a  distinguished  man  who  has  told  the  history  of 
religious  opinions,  with  insisting  that  a  certain  defined 
body  of  doctrine  or  a  certain  defined  order  of  ministers 
must  somewhere  exist,  to  be  the  prerequisites  of 
Christian  belief  and  practice  ;  and  when  events  bring 
us  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that  these  are  the  very 
things  which  there  is  grave  reason  to  question,  we 
turn  away  as  from  some  impious  suggestion.  Or  we 
are  afraid  lest  to  us,  as  to  some  especially  in  Ger- 


245 


many,  the  very  centre  of  all,  the  life  of  our  Lord  on 
earth  should  grow  dim,  and  we  shrink  back  from  any 
full  inquiry  into  the  documents  which  enshrine  it. 
And  then,  at  every  point,  the  path  of  truth  is  a 
rugged  one,  each  step  that  we  make  sure  leading  to  a 
further  step,  till  we  are  weary  with  the  pursuit.  Can 
I  not  make  to  myself  a  resting-place  here,  or  here  ^ 
The  answer  is,  that  a  moral  and  spiritual,  rather  than 
an  intellectual  and  dogmatic,  certitude  is  that  which 
God  designs  for  us  ;  that  the  form  changes  and  will 
change,  while  the  essence  of  our  faith  remains  the 
same ;  that,  if  the  path  be  long  and  hard,  that  is  but 
a  trial  of  our  patience  and  our  courage  ;  aye,  that 
even  if  it  should  be  so  that  the  path  should  lead  us 
under  the  shadow  of  the  most  terrible  doubts,  yet  the 
life  of  self-sacrificing  love,  which  is  the  spiritual 
centre  of  the  Christian  revelation,  could  never  fail  us, 
and  that  of  this  sacrifice  the  following  of  truth  is  the 
noblest  form  ;  and  yet  (for  here  experience  comes  to 
our  aid),  that  the  progress  destined  for  us  is  one  in 
which  all  that  is  precious  to  us  must  be  preserved,  for 
that  on  which  past  generations  of  Christian  men  have 
fed  their  faith  can  never  be  fundamentally  false.  It 
may  be  that,  in  that  progress,  the  clear  light  of  the 
Saviour's  presence  may  for  a  time  be  darkened  ;  but 
a  better,  a  more  spiritual,  view  of  Him  lies  beyond  ; 
and  of  these  more  gloomy  parts  of  our  progress,  as  of 
that  which  the  disciples  were  to  make.  He  would 
surely  say  to  us  :  The  change  is  still  expedient  ;  "  ye 
now  therefore  have  sorrow  ;  but  I  will  see  you  again 


246         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

and  your  heart  shall  rejoice,  and  your  joy  no  man 
taketh  from  you." 

2.  The  same  principles  must  be  applied  to  pro- 
gress in  the  Church  itself — in  the  relations  of  the 
Christian  society  towards  its  own  members.  Here, 
too,  w^e  are  striving  to  realise  an  ideal  of  heavenly 
love  of  which  the  vision  is  seen  for  us  by  St.  Paul 
when  he  reveals  the  Church  as  the  Bride  of  Christ, 
not  having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing;  "  and 
by  St.  John,  in  the  imagery  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
It  cannot  be  too  emphatically  stated  that  these  ideal 
visions  of  the  Church  do  not  apply  to  anything  now 
in  the  world,  that  each  successive  phase  of  Church 
life  is  but  a  faint  striving  towards  them  ;  and,  more- 
over, that  the  Christians  of  each  age  are  left  ab- 
solutely free  to  accommodate  their  institutions  from 
time  to  time  to  their  special  wants,  so  long  as  the 
great  ideal  is  kept  practically  before  their  eyes. 

Why  is  it,  my  brethren,  that  the  Church  of  Christ, 
which  of  all  societies  in  the  world  contains  the  most 
swelling  springs  of  life,  should  be  marked  in  its 
history  by  the  constant  tendency  to  lean  upon  the 
past — that  it  has  been  overlaid  by  traditional  thought 
and  practice,  and  has  had  so  little  of  the  promised 
spirit  of  prophetical  prevision  }  Why  has  our  pro- 
gress been  marked  as  much  or  more  than  the  pro- 
gress of  society  in  general  by  convulsive  struggles 
between  the  parties  of  order  and  of  movement  ? 
Why,  but  because  we  have  been  unfaithful  to  the 
presence  of  the  Spirit  amongst  us  ? 


Fkogress."  247 

There  are  some  persons,  no  doubt,  whose  critical 
habit  is  so  overweening  that  hardly  any  institutions 
of  worship  or  of  government  can  satisfy  them.  But 
ought  we  on  this  account  to  refuse  to  move  forward 
when  the  conditions  of  our  hfe  demand  change  ? 
What  is  the  truth  about  the  various  stages  through 
which  the  Church  has  to  pass  ?  It  is  this,  that  each 
ao-e,  for  itself,  is  bound  to  make  a  vio;orous  effort  to 
realise  the  ideal  of  the  Church,  but  must  still  be  con- 
scious that  all  which  it  can  accomplish  is  but  a  faint 
sketch  of  that  ideal,  a  sketch  which  it  must  leave  to 
be  filled  up  or  modified  by  the  mature  experience  of 
after-times.  Not  one  of  the  institutions  of  the  past, 
not  even  (so  far  as  they  may  be  traced)  of  the  Apos- 
tolic age,  is  binding  in  its  letter  upon  all  after  ages. 
It  is,  indeed,  a  noble  attempt  to  which  each  age  is 
called,  to  evolve,  according  to  its  own  wants,  and  by 
the  light  of  past  experience,  such  institutions  as  will 
best  embody  the  true  relations  of  men  to  each  other, 
as  members  of  a  Christian  brotherhood,  and  their 
relations  to  God  in  worship  and  in  service.  And  it  is 
necessary  to  take  in  the  experience  and  the  traditions 
of  the  past.  But  nothing  can  be  more  pernicious 
than  the  attempt  to  bind  our  own  ways  or  those  of 
past  ages  upon  all  future  generations.  The  arrange- 
ments which  we  make  are,  if  looked  at  in  view  of  the 
whole  career  of  the  Church,  not  like  solid  houses  to 
remain  through  centuries,  but  temporary  halting- 
places.  They  embody  the  present  convictions  of 
men  ;  but  they  must  needs  be  altered  in  a  hundred 


248         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

ways,  according  to  the  ceaseless  changes  of  the  ever- 
working  Spirit  which  dwells  in  the  Church's  heart. 

Great  respect  must  be  paid,  no  doubt,  to  the  ex- 
perience of  those  who  have  gone  before  us,  but  only 
so  far  as  their  experience  really  applies  to  our  cir- 
cumstances. To  make  quotations  from  the  old 
Church  writers,  and  apply  them  immediately  to 
passing  events,  is  for  the  most  part  a  fallacious 
process.  To  quote  the  decrees  of  ancient  councils 
on  matters  as  to  which  the  circumstances  and  the^ 
grounds  of  men's  thoughts  have  changed,  is  to  apply 
for  the  most  part  a  misguiding  standard.  It  is  the 
spirit  and  general  attitude  of  our  Christian  ancestors, 
not  the  letter  of  their  decrees,  that  will  help  us  in 
the  difficulties  of  our  own  time.  And  when,  as  often 
happens,  the  mere  customs  of  ancient  days  are 
brought  in  to  override  what  is  truly  expedient  now, 
we  are  really  in  danger  of  forgetting  that  we  live 
under  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit,  and  that  "  Where 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty." 

It  can  hardly  be  doubted  by  those  who  look 
soberly  into  the  state  of  the  Church  at  the  present 
day  that  great  modifications,  both  of  its  external  and 
internal  relations,  are  at  hand.  It  is  all  but  impos- 
sible that  the  Church  of  England  should  continue 
long  in  its  present  condition.  It  is  a  great  aristo- 
cratic institution,  when  all  other  institutions  are  sub- 
ject to  popular  control.  It  is  still  governed,  in 
minute  points,  by  the  central  power,  while  in  all  other 
departments  of  life  discretion  is  entrusted  to  local 


"  Frogress.^^ 


249 


authorities.  It  is  a  national  institution  which, 
through  the  helpless  perpetuation  of  an  ancient 
wrong,  excludes  from  its  pale  nearly  one  half  of  the 
Christian  people  of  this  realm,  and  it  is  isolated  from 
nine-tenths  of  Christendom.  Whatever  form  the 
changes  may  take  which  are  to  remedy  these  evils, 
such  changes  must  surely  come.  But  why  should  w^e 
fear  to  advance  boldly  and  accommodate  ourselves  to 
the  needs  of  our  generation  }  Have  not  we,  as  well 
as  former  ages,  the  Spirit  of  God  to  lead  us  Is 
there  anything  to  prevent  our  using  the  most  entire 
freedom  in  adapting  ourselves  to  the  altered  circum- 
stances of  our  day  Are  we  bound  to  stigmatise  for 
ever,  as  schismatics,  the  members  of  Christian  com- 
munities not  episcopally  governed  Are  we  to  be 
debarred  from  using  in  the  pulpit  the  services  of  men 
not  episcopally  ordained,  because  former  ages  have 
seldom  used  them  }  Are  we  to  continue  to  limit  our 
Churches  to  one  particular  form  of  service  and  of  ad- 
dress because  it  was  thought  necessary  200  years  ago 
to  guard  against  abuses  by  laws  of  uniformity  ?  Are 
we  to  apply  in  all  Church  offices  a  rigid  test  of 
adherence  to  our  present  system  Are  we  to  refuse 
to  administer  the  Holy  Communion  at  the  only 
times  when  poor  people  in  towns  can  satisfactorily 
come,  because  in  past  years,  under  different  circum- 
stances, it  was  thought  necessary  that  it  should  be 
received  fasting  }  Or,  again,  are  we  to  'be  hindered 
by  the  memory  of  superstitious  abuses  from  retaining 
or  restoring  ancient  usages  which   may  be  really 


250  The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

edifying,  from  using  ancient  forms  of  speech  which 
may  best  represent  the  truth,  or  from  seeking  union, 
where  there  is  any  practical  meaning  in  it,  with  the 
older  as  well  as  the  newer  divisions  of  the  Christian 
body  ?  It  may  be  that,  as  some  think,  we  have  to 
pass  through  a  searching  ordeal,  in  which  all  customs 
and  beliefs  will  be  sifted.  Let  us  enter  upon  that 
ordeal  in  the  bold  yet  reverent  spirit  of  the  writer  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  who,  while  he  looked 
forward  to  the  shaking  of  both  earth  and  heaven,  yet 
knew  that  this  shaking  would  issue  in  the  greater 
stability  of  all  that  was  vital.  The  ordeal  is  brought 
to  bear  on  us,  so  "  That  those  things  which  cannot  be 
shaken  may  remain,"  for  we  receive  a  Kingdom 
which  cannot  be  moved." 

Are  there  those  here  who  tremble  at  the  new 
position  made  for  our  universities  and  colleges  by 
the  abolition  of  religious  tests  ?  Let  them  not  look 
back  to  the  supposed  securities  which  once  gone  are 
gone  for  ever,  but  hopefully  prepare  for  the  time  to 
come.  May  it  not  be  that  greater  freedom  will  throw 
men  more  back  upon  conviction  ;  that  the  fact  of  no 
formal  profession  being  exacted  will  bring  out  more 
distinctly  men's  real  belief,  and  that  what  you  lose  in 
seeming  you  will  gain  in  public  sincerity }  May  it 
not  be  that  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  as  to  the  effect  of 
religious  differences,  may  here  gain  an  application, 
"  That  they  which  are  approved  may  be  made  mani- 
fest ;"  and  that  some  who  have  been  backward  to 
show  their  belief,  when  to  do  so  was  to  identify  them- 


Progress." 


selves  with  a  system  of  religious  ascendancy,  may  in 
a  more  open  field  take  up  a  positive  and  assured 
position  ?  I  cannot  but  believe  that  here,  too,  it  will 
in  the  end  be  found  that  it  was  expedient  that  the 
change  should  come,  and  that  the  abandonment  of 
the  old  and  worn-out  system  will  prove  the  beginning 
of  a  better  state. 

3.  The  principle  of  hopeful  and  confident  pro- 
gress by  the  working  in  us  of  the  Holy  Spirit  may  be 
applied  to  our  individual  lives. 

Life  is  necessarily  a  progress  in  the  sense  that  we 
constantly  change.  It  is  a  progress  necessarily  also 
in  the  sense  that  we  gain  experience  as  we  move  on. 
To  make  it  progress  in  the  true  sense,  the  faith  and 
the  hope  are  needed  which  come  from  the  conscious- 
ness of  redemption.  Without  this,  the  future  is 
dreary  indeed,  and  no  poet  of  Nature,  no  Mimnermus 
or  Anacreon,  no  Byron  or  Beranger  has  ever  ade- 
quately described  the  real  horror  of  the  inevitable 
passage  from  youth  to  age,  from  vigour  of  intellect  to 
a  second  childhood,  from  the  generous  hopes  of  youth 
to  the  churlishness  of  declining  life.  What  is  it  that 
can  convert  the  complaints  of  mankind  into  a  song  of 
triumph  }  I  know  of  nothing  but  the  old,  old  story 
of  the  Death  and  Resurrection  and  Ascension  of  our 
Lord  impressed  on  us  by  the  Holy  Spirit  ;  the  as- 
surance that  self-sacrificing  love,  which  has  sounded 
the  depths  of  human  sin  and  misery  and  has  not 
been  overcome  by  them,  is  supreme  in  God's  universe^ 
and  destined  to  complete  dominion.     He  that  has 


252         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

thus  believed  has  within  him  a  never-failing  spring  of 
hope  and  joy:  and  with  these  comes  to  us  the  assurance 
that  we  ourselves  shall  not  be  overcome  by  the  cor- 
rupting power  of  selfishness.  To  conceive  this  hope 
is  the  truest  conversion  :  to  abandon  it,  the  worst 
backsliding.  To  him  who  holds  it  fast,  life  can  be 
but  a  progress  of  many  stages  towards  ever  maturer 
blessedness. 

I  engage  you,  I  pledge  and  bind  you  over  into 
this  hope,  young  hearts,  whose  fresh  life  is  learning  to 
unfold  itself  amid  the  scenes  of  this  University.  Hope 
is  natural  to  youth.  Take  heed  that  your  hope  is 
well  grounded  ;  then  it  cannot  be  too  fervent  or  en- 
thusiastic. Look  forward  with  joy,  and  count  each 
change  that  is  coming,  whatever  the  momentary  pain 
which  it  may  bring,  to  be  a  passage  on  to  better 
things.  You  have  passed  through  some  such  stages 
already,  and  you  passed  into  them,  perhaps,  un- 
willingly at  the  time.  But  have  they  not  been 
fraught  with  true  profit  to  you  You  passed  from 
a  beloved  home,  and  school  seemed  strange  to  you  at 
first.  You  wept,  perhaps,  at  the  exchange  of  the 
home  fireside  and  the  endearments  of  parents  and 
sisters  for  the  rougher  scenes  and  companionships  of 
school.  But  your  school  soon  became  to  you,  I  can 
hardly  doubt,  a  place  of  fresh  interest,  an  arena  of 
new  aspirations.  You  felt  proud  of  it,  and  you 
regretted  it  keenly  when  you  came  to  leave.  And 
who  that  has  loved  his  school  has  not  felt  his  heart 
turn  back  to  it  with  a  pang,  when  as  a  timid  freshman 


Progress." 


253 


he  has  felt  his  way  with  doubtful  steps  among  the 
large  and  strange  experiences  of  the  University  ? 
But  I  should  think  ill  of  you  if  I  suspected  that  you 
still  looked  back,  and  preferred  the  comparatively 
childish  ways  of  the  best  of  schools  to  the  ampler 
life,  the  fuller  culture,  to  which  Oxford  invites  her 
sons.  He  that  has  entered  into  one  tithe  of  these 
advantages  must  ever  cling  with  grateful  affection  to 
the  place  where  he  hrst  felt  the  spring  of  mature 
thought  and  learned  with  independent  resolve  to  gird 
himself  for  the  work  of  life.  Keep  your  heart  fresh, 
and  your  conscience  pure,  young  men.  May  Oxford 
be  to  you  all  that  it  is  in  the  idealising  memory  of 
those  who  are  now  growing  old. 

But  will  you  then,  because  the  present  scene  is 
happy  and  fruitful,  linger  here,  and  shrink  from  what 
is  to  come  }  Will  you  contrast  with  your  studies  of 
poetry,  or  histor}^,  or  philosophy,  or  with  the  pleasant 
contact  of  youthful,  expansive  minds,  the  crabbedness 
of  law,  the  dulness  of  a  curacy,  dry  business,  the 
society  of  common  men  and  women  Will  you  (I 
know  that  it  is  the  temptation  of  man\^)  thus  discount 
the  future,  thus  take  the  heart  out  of  the  comine 
time,  till  evil,  selfish  forebodings  almost  create  their 
own  fulfilment  ^  Rather,  with  Christian  hopefulness, 
fill  the  future  with  the  blessed  hopes  of  duty,  and  the 
love  of  your  fellow-men,  and  the  luxury  of  doing 
good.  Depend  upon  it,  one  half  of  the  dangers  of 
university  life,  on  which  man}'  have  to  look  back 
with  regret,  come  from  the  thoughtless  and  selfish 


254         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 


spirit  which  refuses  to  look  forward.  They  will  be 
conjured  away  if  you  make  your  Oxford  career,  not  a 
scene  of  listless  satisfaction,  but  one  of  serious  pre- 
paration for  the  work  of  your  life.  The  time  that 
lies  before  you  is  full  of  ampler  experiences,  nobler 
opportunities  ;  and  in  the  practical  life,  if  our  feet  are 
more  firmly  planted  on  earth,  our  minds  may  yet  be 
nearer  heaven.  Pass  on,  young  Christian,  soberly, 
but  without  fear.  And  if  in  the  larger  thoughts 
which  this  free  republic  of  the  mind  has  given  you 
the  fabric  of  your  ideas  has  undergone  some  change, 
do  not  think  that  the  future  need  bring  you  either  an 
abandonment  of  aspirations  for  truth,  or  a  wearing 
away  of  faith  into  negation.  Do  your  duty  trust- 
fully, and  with  prayer  ;  and  who  is  he  that  will  harm 
you  in  all  the  days  that  are  coming  } 

It  is  said  that  men,  as  they  grow  older,  learn  the 
hollowness  of  their  youth's  ideals.  I  know  not  why 
this  should  be  so.  That  the  mere  effervescence  of  the 
youthful  recruit  should  pass  away  is  natural  ;  but,  if 
the  veteran  should  be  more  circumspect,  he  should 
also  be  more  daring.  The  first  sketch  was  inade- 
quate ;  the  newer  plans  should  be  drawn  with  a 
bolder  hand.  The  glorious  thoughts  that  belong  to 
immortality,  and  the  promise  of  Christ's  return, 
should  suggest  to  us  constantly  new  spheres  which 
the  spirit  of  love  may  occupy ;  and,  like  Ulysses,  even 
in  old  age  we  may  cry  : — 

"  Come,  my  friends, 
Tis  not  too  late  to  seek  a  newer  world." 


Progress" 


Perhaps  the  greatest  hindrance  to  men  in  fulfilling 
the  work  which  they  ought  to  accomplish  in  life  is  the 
want  of  spiritual  enterprise — I  had  almost  said  ambi- 
tion. The  man  who  has  had  some  earnest  moments 
thinks  he  has  saved  his  soul,  and  looks  back  to  what 
he  was  in  the  "  peaceful  hours  he  once  enjoyed,'' 
instead  of  embracing  the  opportunities  of  fuller 
religious  life  which  the  coming  days  are  unfolding. 
The  man  who  has  had  some  success  in  literature  rests 
on  his  reputation  or  works  on  his  old  materials, 
instead  of  training  his  genius  for  higher  flights.  The 
man  who  has  been  forward  in  some  good  cause  which 
has  triumphed,  looks  back  to  the  former  scenes  of 
conflict  rather  than  to  the  wars  which  have  yet  to  be 
waged  against  evil.  And  those  who  in  youth  have 
been  ardent  reformers,  become  upholders  of  abuses  in 
later  life.  "  Such  is  the  natural  course,"  you  say. 
Natural,  no  doubt,  so  far  as  natural  means  selfish ; 
but  not  the  Christian  course.  May  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
God  take  from  us  the  lethargy  and  the  timidity  which 
so  well  befit  our  natural  selfishness,  and  give  us  the 
great  boldness  and  freedom  which  was  the  heritage  of 
Christ's  Apostles.  Let  us  count  as  among  our  chief 
dangers  that  timorousness  which  is  the  parent  both  of 
cowardice  and  of  cruelty.  Let  us  advance,  expecting, 
not  a  renewal  of  gifts  which  have  passed  away,  but 
new  gifts  suited  to  our  age,  fuller  light,  greater 
breadth  and  tolerance  as  distinctly  Christian  virtues, 
more  power  to  adapt  social  and  political  circum- 
stances to  the  work  of  the  Church,  fuller  sympathy 


256         The  Gospel  of  the  Secular  Life. 

with  the  needs  and  aspirations  of  the  masses  of  our 
poorer  fellow-countrymen,  more  ability  to  harmonise 
the  refinements  of  art,  of  literature,  nay,  of  humour, 
with  the  spiritual  and  eternal  wants  of  men,  and 
greater  simplicity  of  life,  to  purify  our  age  from 
selfish  luxury.  These,  surely,  are  the  gifts  for  which 
our  generation  cries  aloud,  and  these  the  Comforter  is 
waiting  to  bestow.  Let  us  ask  and  we  shall  receive  ; 
and,  whether  we  ourselves  succeed  or  fail,  we  shall 
aid  the  world  in  its  course  towards  the  promised 
triumph  of  our  Lord. 


THE  END. 


